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~ INSIDE... ODbitUArIeS .uxsensessnnssssansansunss 2 POlCE LOZ ..uaareessnersncisannsie 2 Lifestyles urmsnssnssnsseasassasnases 6 kmherald.com KingsiMountain 37 iV 81 BeachBlast photos page 10 & 12 Math Academy See page 8 Volume 127 eo Issue 29 ¢ Wednesday, July 22, 2015 Bethlehem Firemen celebrate ground-breaking BETHLEHEM FIREMEN BREAK GROUND - Bethlehem Vol- unteer Fire Department broke ground for a new building Sunday afternoon. From left, Lee Echols, chairman of the building committee; county commission chairman Jason Falls; Jeff Dixon, chairman of the board of directors; Sid- ney Dixon and Jerry Morris, charter members; Perry Davis, Emergency Management Coordinator; John McDaniel, Chief; and Mike Vanhoy of D. R. Reynolds, building contractor. Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Department broke ground Sunday afternoon for a new building to go up on Bethlehem Road not far from the building which has housed firemen for 50 years. “This is a great day for our department," said Chief John McDaniel who said firemen have outgrown the existing building and the new facility will provide five drive-through bays, of fices and training room for the firefighters all in a single story structure. McDaniel said firefight- Photo by ELAINE DIXON ing today calls for more room than the existing de- partment has to offer. Not only were fire- men excited at Sunday's ground-breaking but char- ter members Sidney Dixon and Jerry Morris had a hand in taking up a shovel and breaking the soil for what will be a handsome facility to last for many more years to come. Special guests at the groundbreaking included county commission chair- man Jason Falls, Emergency See FIREMEN, Page 3 Sponsor a Vietnam Veteran? (Ed. Note — Jim Medlin is sponsoring a campaign to help some Viet- nam veterans go to Washing- ton, DC to see the Vietnam Memorial. In- dividuals and/ or clubs interested in spon- soring a veteran can call Medlin at 828-443-7933. Good Morning Vietnam! This phrase, from an AFRS radio announcer in 1965, DJ Adrian Cronauer, is known by most all Viet- nam veterans—many radio announcers after Cronauer and up until the end of the war used this “Good Morn- ing Vietnam” byline. All of us lived it during this Hil JIM MEDLIN episode of our younger, earlier military years—Our Mission: go to the other side of the world and fight for other’s human-rights and liberties and keep our | shores free and safe from oppression. We were young and in- nocent of life’s realities and cruelties when we went to Vietnam; many of us were just out of high school— KMHS, Grover, Bethware and other schools close by. Some of us had college ex- periences and degrees from higher education institu- tions. We went to Vietnam as Army, Marine, Navy, and Air Force enlisted men; and some of us were in the offi- cer corps and led men into the actions and reactions of intrepid jungle battlefields; many encounters were in rice patties and across flat- lands and mountains, along shore lines and into the riv- ers—it was Vietnam. We walked the line; we flew the choppers; we supported men See SPONSOR, Page 4 15 seek four seats on Council Eight more candidates file for city offices BEAUFORD BURTON MAYOR DEAN SPEARS WARD 4 ELIZABETH STEWART lib.kmherald @gmail.com Candidate filing ended Friday at noon with five more candidates from Kings Mountain entering the race which assured competition for all city seats up for grabs in November. Four former elected of- ficials are back in the city council race in November as a total of 15, including two women, seek city offices. SHERLOCK HOLMES MAYOR KAY HAMBRIGHT WARD 4 15¢ PATTY HALL AT LARGE JERRY MULLINAX AT LARGE In Grover, Incumbent Grover Mayor J, D. Ledford did not file for reelection and incumbent councilman and mayor pro tem Bill Willis filed for the mayor’s seat. Also filing previously for mayor was Kristy Wy- llis. Filing for council in Grover for two of the three open seats were incumbents Angelia Early and Patrick Shannon. The filing of former Kings Mountain council- BOBBY PEARSON AT LARGE man Dean Spears and for- mer councilwoman Kay Hambright in Ward 4 as- sured a race in Ward 4 with incumbent Rodney Gordon. In the race for at-large council member Patty Hall, a former candidate in Ward 2, and former councilman Jerry Mullinax filed Friday and Bobby Pearson filed last week to challenge in- cumbent Keith Miller. A race also developed Friday in Ward I when LAMAR FLETCHER WARD 1 Lamar Fletcher filed to op- pose the incumbent Howard Shipp. A race developed last week in Ward 5 when Jay Rhodes filed to challenge incumbent councilman Rick Moore. Beauford Burton, Scott Neisler and Eugene (Sher- lock) Holmes are challeng- ing incumbent Mayor Rick Murphrey. A total of 16 candidates, See CANDIDATES, Page 4 Anti-gaming advocate speaks out; Neisler undecided on casino DAVE BLANTON | dave.kmherald@gmail.com By the time Me- lynda Li- tchfield hit her early forties, she was at the height of her profession. A longtime registered nurse with a good salary and the respect of her peers, she was working in the in- tensive care unit of one of Chicago’s largest hospitals. But to hear her tell her story, all that began to change when a riverboat ca- sino was established in the bedroom community of St. Charles she lived in with her attorney husband and three children. Litchfield, who up until that point considered her- self a casual gambler who played the slots or black- jack only when on vacation MELYNDA LITCHFIELD occasionally, found herself playing the machines more and more at the casino that was “10 minutes down the road.” As much as she real- ized she was becoming ad- dicted to the machines that sat at the stationary Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, I1l., she was also realizing how powerless she was over her habit. Over about an eight-year period — beginning around 2000 — Litchfield said she lost about $60,000. “I lost an ungodly amount of money playing the slots,” Litchfield told about 35 people assembled at 238 Pizzeria on Cherokee Street in downtown Kings Mountain Monday night. “But it’s not just the money I can never get back. It’s the time with my family — it’s the time I could have spent doing other things.” Now, having giving up all kinds of gambling for more than three years, she described slot machines as the crack cocaine of gambling. It was that ter- rific pull that caused her to empty out a 401(k) savings and a pension. Ultimately, she said, she was fired from her health care job because she was borrowing money from the doctors she worked with. Litchfield is in town this week to try to drum up resistance to a proposed Catawba Indian Hotel and Gaming Complex that could be build just a few miles south of town. She has since 2014 worked as a Na- tional Victims Advocate for Stop Predatory Gambling, a Washington, D.C., based non-profit group that pushes for laws that would make the building of tribal casi- nos — often called regional casinos -- more difficult. Litchfield was invited to Cleveland County by the Kings Mountain Aware- ness Group, a local group that has sought to stop the See ANTI-GAMING, Page 9 We Accept EBT, SNAP, Food Stamps, Debit HOURS: 8AM-6PM » MON-SAT. @INIZ [AY @INILYTY FRI Bacon Wrapped Filets VOTED BEST MEAT MARKET 4 YEARS IN A ROW! Ny hs SR yf 5 i 4 1026 EAST MARION ST., SHELBY, NC ‘8 i i/ 8 Simi t§10) PERS 6 CFs [Eee Like Us On Facebook! © Film shot in Shelby makes Real to Reel cut Be DAVE BLANTON * dave.kmherald@gmail.com This year’s Real to Reel International Film Festival is a showcase of more than 25 shorts, animated films, features and documentaries. The subjects range from Appalachian moon- shiners, our relationship with man’s best friend, obsessive compulsive disorder, aging and sub- stance abuse and recov- ery. The line-up suggests an interesting mix of laughter, tears and a lit- tle strangeness. Submissions for this year’s film fest, which begins tonight at down- town Kings Moun- tain’s Joy Theatre and runs through Saturday, poured in from all See REAL TO REEL, Page 9
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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July 22, 2015, edition 1
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