VOL. 1 NO. 4
Kings Mountain, N.C. September 22,1971
8 Pages Today
Questions School Board
Committee Charges Discrimination
In Hiring Of Black Teachers
A group of more than a dozen black
citizens representing the Kings Mountain
Improvement Association charged the City
Board of Education Monday night with
discrimination in hiring teachers.
William ''it, a spokesman for the group,
.ddressed the board, saying, “wearecon-
^'Cemed tonight about bUck teachers. Out
at 194 teachers In the school system, 30
are black • out of a student body of 22-
percent blacK. This is not equal - It’s not
right - something needs to be done-we’re
concerned - we hope you’re concerned.
This Is out of balance. IVhatlwantto know
tonight is what are you willing to do about
this? Are you concerned about the
problem?
School Superintendent Don Jones replied
that there are 31 black teachers, plus two
new appointees approved at the Monday
night meeting. “This is an area we feel
like that in hiring any personnel, they have
to be qualified personnel. Wetryto screen
the applicants we have. I don’t feel you
want us to recruit unqualified teachers.’’
Orr replied: "We have people herewith
Masters degrees, aren’t they (piallfled?"
To this Jones answered: “I can tell you
names of people we’ve contacted who won’t
come ... I’m willing to make recommen
dations to the board. This is really a
problem. Graduates coming out of the
schools don’t have to accept the starting
salaries of teachers here, they can go to
other states.”
The board was then asked, “What hap
pened to all the black teachers from the
all-black schools? He says we can’t find
one qualified - they were all qualified
then!”
“Those are employed unless they’ve
retired,” Jones explained, "we haven’t
dismissed anyone.”
The discussion then shifted to the cos
metology class at Kings Mountain High
School, where the group charged a dis
criminatory situation exists.
A spokesman cited that the one black
student In the class Is “not getting the
proper training she should have” in hair
styling for blacks, which, as she said,
requires “a different technique.”
The board was requested to hire an
additional instructor skilled In this spec
ialty for the class.
Superintendent Jones replied that the
present teacher is conscientious, unprej
udiced, and has taken in-service work in
that field. He further explained that re
gistration for the cosmetology class was
insufflcient to warrant two teachers.
"This is discrimination,” Orr inter jec
ted, “I think it’s up to the board to right
this wrong. Is the board willing to do
something about it?”
Board member Jim Herndon suggested
an in-service program, under which a
beautician skiUed in hair styUng for blacks
come to the school and provide the special
training.
Jones agreed that this could probably be
worked out.
At the close of the lengthy discussion,
Orr said, “I think we’ve been able to solve
a few problems-ithlnk we should pray and
talk to God about It. I feel we’ve opened
some lines of communication tonight.”
Catherine Wilson, President of the
Association, thanked the board for their
attention, stating the group’s objective as:
”We want a beautiful Kings Mountain for
everybody.”
In other business, the School Board
unanimously elected the following new
teachers hired under the Middle School
Program and the Special Elementary Vo
cational Program, with a grant of $56,
953 plus $18,000 In equipment and ma
terials.
The new teachers are: Hariill Lee
Blanton, and Kenneth H. Blanton, Jr.,
to be assigned to Central Junior High;
Mary S. Hardin, W est Elementary; Clara
C. Jackson, Grover; Patricia M. Satter-
whlte. North Elementary; Robert Sweezy,
Junior High; and D, B. Blalock, in Gui
dance at Junior High.
Also approved without dissent was the
Superintendent’s recommendation for an
application for a year-round head start
program, rather than a summerprogram,
beginning next school year.
Friday night showers failed to dampen the spirits of hundreds
of Kings Mountain football hins. They huddled under umbrellas
and raincoats to cheer the Mountaineers to a 14 to 6 victory over
East Kutherfordton. See sports page.
Health Director Sets Dog Policy
Laney Says Cansler Street Renewal
Will Promote Private Development
iVo School Oct. 1
Friday, October 1st will be a holiday for
students In the Kings Mountain School
District.
There will be no school that day because
of a North Carolina Association of Edu
cators meeting In Gastonia.
Hambright Reunion
The annual meeting of the descendants
of Col. Fredrick Hambright will be held
on Sunday, October 10, 1971, at the Grover
Rescue Building, beginning at 1:00 P.M.
PIsase bring a picnic lunch - drinks
will be provided.
Pass the word to Kinsmen and friends
and encourage a good attendance for this
meeting.
Macedonia Revival
Macedonia Baptist Church, Kings Moun
tain, N.C. will hold revival services be
ginning Sunday, September 26 at the 11:00
a.m. service. The Sunday evening service
will b^n at 7:00 pjn. and the services
Monday through Friday, October 1, willbe
at 7:30 p.m. Rev. Curtis Bundy will be
the evangelist.
The pastor. Rev. L. D. Scruggs, invites
the public to hear Mr, Bundy along with
gospel music — solos, duets, quartets,
choir numbers — in a special musical
under the direction of Miss Pam McCall.
^ Mirror Adds
Kilgo Column
The Mirror is pleased to announce that
political and sports comments by Charlotte
newsman John KUgo will becomes regular
feature, beginning In this week’s edition.
As news editor of Big WAYS Radio in
Charlotte, Kilgo heads an award winning
news department. He Is famous for his
perceptive reporting of Norfli Carolina
politics. His newspaper columns cover
tiie political scene in our area, and in
addition, he offers weekly sports columns.
Look for Kllgo’s column on the editorial
and sports pages of this Issue, and find
out why peoplearetalkingaboutJohnKilgo.
Richard Steeves, the new County Health
Director, announces a new policy
regarding the sheltering and adoption of
dogs.
For the first time, the dog warden will
have regular office hours during which
time he can be contacted. He may be
reached from 8-8:30 a.m. and from I-
1:30 pjn. Monday through Friday, at 487-
8511.
The Health Department is presently in
the process of securing a kennel and tke-
llities and will begin holding dogs at the
shelter for three days beginningthis week.
The warden will be at the shelter dally
from 4:30 - 5 p.m., at this time anyone
interested in dogs can come by and adopt
one.
The three-day holding period will begin
as soon as an adequate water supply is
provided. The drst day, the captured dog
can be reclaimed, the second and third
days are set aside for adopition, and if
not adopted by that time, will destroyed.
The shelter is located near Shelby on
Highway 180 about a mile west of the 150
intersection.
Mayor Names
Committee
Mayor John Henry Moss has named the
following City Commissioners to head a
committee for street improvement: Ray
Cline, Chairman, Ward 1 Commissioner;
T. J. ElUson, Ward 3, and Norman King,
Ward 4.
Redevelotr.ent Commission Dir
ector Joe Laney says he can not over
estimate the aspect of private deve
lopment In the Cansler Street Renewal
Area, which received an additional $660,
000 in Federal funds last week, bring
ing the total Federal grant reseiration
to $2,434,000.
The area covered In the project is
110.2 acres, wherein 245 families re
side. Of the 280 structures In the area
232, or 82 per-cent are considered sub
standard,
“We’re going to work with each fam
ily”, said Laney, “before we displace
any family, we’U have a fine standard
home for them to go Into.”
Laney emphasized that the plan of
relocation wlU have to be carried out
in stages,” or else we will hurt peqple-
our business Is to help, not hurt people.”
He added that the emphasis will be
put on single family housing units, and
private development, getting as many
people In the area into home ownership
as possible.
Laney predicts that the Cansler Renewal
Area, when completed, will be one of the
city’s better sub-divisions, and Is plann
ed to meet with Kings Mountain Sub
division r^ulations.
Mrs. Aimle Thombs will work with the
Redevelopment Coir.miEslon in the re
location of families.
The Object of the $3,000,000.00 plan
is to develop between 150-175 quality new
private homes and apartments in the 110
acre area. The result will be to eli
minate 232 substandard structures and
create a fine subdivision with improved
streets, sidewalks, parks, and modem
utility distribution systems.
Through careful planning the major
portion of the city share of the cost has
already been provided by widening, impro
vement and resurfacing of Cansler Street
throughout the entire renewal area. Mayor
Moss pointed out that planned additional
improvements programmed over the four
to five year period estimated to complete
the program will eliminate any cash outlay.
For all practical purposes this action
represents final approval by the depart
ment of Housing and urban development;
however. Director Joe Laney pointed out
that two or three months of work lie ahead
to prepare and submit additional data re
quested by the HUDAtlanta Office.
23,000 Turkeys Growing For Thanksgiving
On Jack Hughes Farm
BY RODNEY DODSON
In just a few weeks, local housewives
will be going to the supermarket to
choose one those plump, freshly pac
kaged butterbaU turkeys forthetraditional
Thanksgiving meal.
Over 23,700 turkeys now growing on a
farm in the Dixon School Community near
Kings Mountain will be among those birds
in the bags in the grocer’s freezer, and
according to Jack Hughes, owner of the
200 acre turkey farm, “the public has
never been as safe In buying poultry,”
because of strict government inspection
and testing.
In August, over 25,000 of Hughes tur
keys were afiected by a 10-state embargo
placed by the Department of Agriculture.
It was feared that some of the turkeys
may have been exposed to contaminated
fish meal from a V. Umlngton feed producer
containing the chemical PCB. Everything
on the farm was frozen.
The embargo lasted only about a week-
tests proved the turkeys to be safe - then
on the way to the processing plant, an
accident involving the truck destroyed the
entire shipment of 1649 turkeys.
Hughes, However, was reimbursed by
the Insurance company at 24-cents per
pound for the shipment.
Hughes has been in the turkey business
for 25 years. In 1966, following the death
at his father, he returned to the family
homeplace near Kings Mountain to begin
the turkey farm which now involves over
$250,000 annually.
The third generation farmer explains
how he is carrying on a family tradition.
”My grandfather was a row-crop far
mer and sawmill man, then dad worked
at the sawmill and row-cropped, ,. then
he got into the cattle business.” His fat
her bought the farm in the Dixon School
community in 1934.
Hughes recalls helping his father with
the farm before he entered the Navy during
World War H.
In 1946 he went to Newberry, South
Carolina, where he owned and operated
two turkey farms.
In 1961 he lost his operating capital and
was forced to sell the farms to get out
of deU.
Then he moved to Pageland, S.C., to
work for the Nicholas Turkey Farm, which
at that time produced about 25-percent of
the breeders stock In the I nlted States.
When Hughes returned to the Kings
Mountain farm in 1966, on which no tur
keys had ever been raised, he had to build
two brooder houses. He put the first
poults (baby turkeys) In the first of Feb
ruary of ‘67.
He then had to start tearing down old
fences on the farm and put up wove-wlre
fencing, '’ens were laid up, and 3 miles
of underground water line was plowed In.
When the turkeys are about 10 weeks
old, they are turned onto the 150 acres
of fenced green fields and woodland.
The turkeys require shade in the sum
mer or they would die, Hughes points out,
"They can stand a temperature of only
about 100-degrees. In hot weather they
These 23^000
Turkeys
Will Be
In The Bag
Before
Thanksgiving.
stay mostly In the woods;” but on a recent
September afternoon, following a brief
shower, the white turkeys dotted the green
pastures like blotches of snow melting in
the sun.
Hughes grow s the turkeys under contract
with Swift and Co., with offices In Wallace,
N.C. Swift furnishes the feed and medica
tion, and the Hughes family furnishes the
facilities, management, and labor. Jack
Hughes, his wife, and 16-year-old dau
ghter, Beth, live in a neat white frame
house on the hilltop farm. His son,
Mark, who is now in the National Guard,
and his wife, the former Patty McDaniel
of Blacksburg, occupy a mobile home next
to his parents house.
The massive poultry operation requires
a lot of work. Calvin Huffman is a full
time worker on the farm, aided by Fate
Curry.
“The biggest job is tokeepthewaterers
washed and cleaned,” explained Hughes.
"In the mornings, all drinkers are dum
ped and disinfected on the range. We also
have to loik for dead turkeys and check
for predators.”
The farmer normally raises three pro
jects of turkeys a year. The first brood of
about 25,000 comes in the first of Feb
ruary, followed by a second in April, and
the third and final project In August.
The turkeys build up to a peak in June.
This June the 'ilrds requires 190-125 tons
of feed per week, and 6,000 gallons of
water a day.
When a new flock of Tom turkeys are
brought onto the farm, they are debeaked
to keep them from biting each other, and
often killing each other.
This increases the mortality rate, which
Hughes says “better not run over 10-per
cent. We get paid for feed conversion and
mortality - this is where we make our
money - by sending back as many grade
A’s as we can for as little fe^. The
mortality rate usually runs about 5 - per
cent.
The 23,790 turkeys now roaming the
green fields In the foothill of Kings Moun
tain, comprise the last project of the year
on Jack Hughes’ turkey farm.
The by-product of months of hard labor
and tender loving care, these big birds
will soon provide festive center pieces
for holiday tables throughout America.
Jack Hughes stops his pickup truck in the midst of thousands of turkeys on his farm in the Dixon School Community.
These birds will be packaged and in the supermarkets before Thanks^ving.