PAGE 2, THE KINGS MOUNTAIN MIRROR, SEPTEMBER, 29TH, 1971
United Fund At Work
A good portion of local contributions to the United Fund
Drive are put to work right here in Kings Mountain.
The 1971-1972 appeal will kickoff in Kings Mountain on Oct
ober i9th, with a budget of $34,500,
Just one of a dozen non-profit organizations benefitting
from these funds is the Girt Scouts of America, for which
$4,500 has been approved this year.
During the year 1970-71, the Girl Scout Program has con
tinued to streghten and grow in the city of Kings Mountain.
It is the oniy organized recreational program especially
for girls in this area. There are three hundred persons
actively Involved at the present time. There are forty Vol
unteer adults working as troop leaders or committee members
for the twelve troops in the city. These leaders are charged
with the task of inspiring girls with the highest ideals of
character, conduct, patriotism, and service.
There are 259 girls participating in troop activities here.
As troops resumed regular meetings this fail, there has
been an increase in membership, making it necessary to
organize at least two new troops. The current neighborhood
chairman who is responsible for organizing and co-ordinat
ing troop activities is Mrs. Barbara DeVane. Kings Moun
tain belongs to the Pioneer Girl Scout Council which emcom-
passes a four county area with headquarters in Gastonia.
The Girl Scouts, and other deserving organizations, benefit
from your contributions to the United Fund.
Fire Time
Exit look
Following the 1969 failure of Saturday Evening Post,
recently revived as a quarterly. Collier’s and other slicks.
Look Magazine recently ceased publication because of
financial losses totaling more than ten million dollars in
thirty months.
The main causes of difficulties were television competi
tion and sharply higher postal rates. The general purpose
entertainment magazine, with no special field, has been
especially hard hit by television. A question the Look
failure leaves unanswered is how well Life, the only maga
zine left in this class, will do over the long run. It's cer
tain to pick up circulation and advertising revenue in the
short run. (Gardner Cowles, board chairman of Look, pre
dicted the country would support Life and that it would do
well, in his announcement that Look was closing.)
The Postal Service has proposed to increase magazine
rates by 142 per cent over the next five years. This would
have pushed Look’s mailing costs up from $4-million to
klO-million and was a factor in the board decision to cease
publication. Mailing costs, of course, have already risen
in the last year or two.
The end of Look raises further grave doubts about the
wisdom ofthe congressional decision to turn the Post Office
Department into a private corporation which would pay its
own way. One of the finest and most beneficial government
_ services to the average citizen for generations has been
federally-subsidized postal service. With the government
spending billions on just about everything else, low-cost
mailing of newspapers, magazines and books, in the public
interest as educational and informative, should not be the
target of federal retrenchment.
Newman & Jessel
Not long ago television newsman Edwin Newman rudely
ejected George Jessel from the “Today Show’’ because
Jessel was referring to the New York Times and Washington
Post as “Pravda.” Immediately afterward network officials
backed Newman up but that didn’t satisfy Congressman
William Harsha(R-O) who wondered why newspapers which
themselves criticize sharply and print stolen secrets are
so immune from criticism.
Harsha appealed to the FCC, whose chairman. Dean
Burch,refused to intervene. Burch’s obviously lame reason
ing (or excuse) was that Jessel’s remarks were “verging”
into “possible” libel.
When almost every other guest on some of the night
shows ridicule or defame the Vice President, and sometimes
the President, and when newspapers have almost unlimited
rights to make incisive comparisons, it’s odd and illogical
that newspapers must be so carefully protected, so much
so that a guest offering his own opinions is rudely censored
because he might be “verging” into “possible” libel.
What it really boils down to is that when liberals deliver
questionable verbal blows any effort to censor their mili
tancy is labeled shocking and universally damned by the
self-righteous. When a conservative is rudely shut up, the
same liberal voices unofTended, offef weak rationalizations
as justification.
739-3851
Box 345 Kings Mountain, N.C.
146 W. Mountain Street
Published Each Wednesday
In Kings Mountain
By The
Mirror Publishing Co.
Rodney Dodson Editor
Lem R. Lynch Photographer
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
$4 Per Year In N.C., $5 Per Year Outside N.C.
The Bicycle Boom/
With more and more Amer
icans becoming health con
scious, the bicycle has be
come a respectable means
of recreational travel for ad
ults.
Many bicycle shops are
selling the adult models fast
er than they can order them.
I was fortunate enough to
purchase mine last year be
fore the craze hit this area.
I enjoyed it so much I bou
ght my wife one, and we
spent many hours riding this
summer, and for the first
time really noticing things
along the way. It’s surpris
ing how far you can travel
without tiring.
If everyone rode a bike
on those short, around town
trips, think what it would do
to the traffic problem, and
poliutlon, not to mention the
condition of our bodies.
Of course our dependance
on the automobile makes it
impractical to do much bike
riding. There are no lanes
or streets set aside for two-
wheelers, and no parking fac
ilities. To ride a bicycle
on the street with autos,
you’re risking life and limb.
Some of the larger cities
are responding to the problem
with bikeways, streets re
stricted to bikes only. I
hope this is a growing trend.
As with any new idea, there
are bound to be skeptics. I
ran into a classic example
one day this summer.
I had just got home from
work , and needed to go to
the store down the street for
some groceries, so I jumped
on my bike. I met two little
boys. One exclaimes: "A
grown man on a bike..." “how
unusual!” the other chimed
sarcastically.
COULD HAVE A ROBBERY
Lee McIntyre at First Cit
izens Bank Was somewhat
Fire Prevention Week, which reminds us cooler weather
means accidental fire and resulting death and financial
loss for many, is the week of October 3rd through the 9th.
Ever since the famous Chicago fire, exactly a century
ago on October 8th, 1871, the danger of fires has been
stressed by fire departments and others at this time of year.
In recent years the National Fire Protection Association
has sponsored Fire Prevention Week the aimiversary week
of the Chicago fire.
Last year 12,300 Americans lost their lives in fires and
the cost was over 2.65 billion dollars. About a fourth of
the deaths from fires were those of children, often unable
to help themselves.
This is, then, the time of year to check gas lines and
pipes, furnaces, chimneys, electric wiring and appliances,
etc.
John
Kilgo
For Governor?
I am giving serious consideration to running for Governor of
North Carolina in next year’s primary.
For the past few months I have been secretly touring the State
tn get a line on what the people are thinking. I can tell you ttat
while 1 don’t have a foothold in every county, I have a toehold in
some of them.
Iwas in Onslow Contyona political trip just the other day.
(I went there to try to get a speeding ticket fixed and ^ed.)
I stopped a man on the street, introduced myself and told him
I was thinking of running for Governor. His repiy: “I’m not
voting for anyone who has been mentioned, and that includes
you.”
That indicates to me that I’m now running even with the four
Democratic candidates and they’ve been at it for years and I
just started. I had not hoped to be in this position until after
Easter.
It has been said of me that I’m independently poor. That is
true. But while I do not have an airplane or a helicopter I
have been promised the use of a 196t Volk^agen bus.
If elected, I promise to do the following things: I wUl re
present the rich man. While the poor has more champions than
Wheaties, no other candidate for Governor has offered to do any
thing for the rich. I will see to it that the rich get a piece of
the action.
Along that line, I will open the Governor’s Mansion for the
Debutante Ball, if they promise not make fun of me.
Higher Education: I will ask the 170 members of our legisiature
and Bob Scott, all of whom have a plan to restructure higher
education, to dtop their plans in a hat. I will then blindfold
Lindsey Warren Jr, and have him draw one and we’U use that
pian. T he winner will also get two free tickets to the Carollna-
Duke football game.
Soft-drink tax: I will remove the soft-drink tax and put it on
drinking water. This will guarantee that every man, woman and
child, no matter how poor they are, will pay their fair share.
School busing; There will be no more of this. Taking a page
from the children on Young’s Cove Road near Asheville, all
children will be given ponies to ride to school
Law and Order: I’m completely against crime.
Gasoline Tax: Only those people driving foreign made cars
wUl be required to pay this tax. Patriotism will not be dead in
my administration.
Secret Meetings: All government meetings wlU be open, except
to those reporters who by their very nature are obnoxious and
cynical.
Legislative Sessions: I will ask the Institute of Government to
come up with a plan whereby it won’t be necessary for the
legislature to meet as a group.
Consumerism: I will ask the Attorney General to propose ways
that big business can be protected from the little man.
Patronage: I pledge to the voters that I will make use of the
talents of Skipper, Bobby, Pat and Hugh. Just so long as they
know who’s the boss.
surprised last Thursday when
police officer L. D. Beattie
barged into the bank and in
formed him that his burglar
alarm had just gone off. . .
It was a false alarm.
After missing a photo of
Boy Scout Troop 415 depart
ing for a weekend camping
trip two weeks ago, we we
ren’t about to miss a sched
uled picture of Girl Scout
Troop 200 Saturday as they
departed for Girl Scout Day
on Grandfather Mountain.
We had promised to be
on the scene at 9 A.M.
sharp at the home of Mrs.
Bob Cox, scout leader.
I was there, but there
were no girl scouts! Rainy
weather and a transportation
problem had canceled the trip.
I’m sure the girls of Troop
200 were as disappointed as
I was.
Grab Him!
EIngelbeit Humperdick re
cently completed a singing
engagement in a New York
hotel for which he was paid-
it’s estimated-$50,000 a
week. That’s what a modern
singing sex symbol can
make.
But Engelbert,to his cred
it, doesn’t let fly with hips
and bones, as does Tom
Jones, who seems to follow
more closely the leg wob
bling of Elvis. (Occasional
ly he gives the girls a slight
pelvic motion.) Neverthe
less, he is hot stuff.
To see just how much
awestruck females could
stand, at each performance
Engelbert called one to the
stage and sang an entire
song, kissing her at the end
of each line. That was too
much for one fan who report
edly shouted, “Grab him,
Joyce!”
On Riots
The recent tragic climax
to a prison riot in Attica,
New York, brought floods of
protests flrom distressed cit
izens, many who claimed to
have had better solutions to
the dilemma which cost so
many lives.
Most ofthe second-guess-
ers overiook the fact that
retroactive judgment is often
far easier, and therefore bet
ter, than that used at the
time of crisis. Even more
important, they overlook the
fact that revolutionaries who
use force and violence to
defy the law must, on some
occasions, be met with force.
All thinking citizens re
gret the deaths caused by
the riot at Attica but they
were the result of the riot,
the actions of those who
rioted.
To lament a forceful re
sponse to this lawlessness
is understandable but lament
is more appropriate for the
many law-abiding citizens
and law enforcementofficers
murdered by the lawless.
BEST OF PRESS
Can'l Rrmrmbrr
An old-timer says there
are three signs of old age.
One is the loss of memory
and he can’t remember the
other two.
-Record, Columbia, S.C.
This Week's Definition
A pedestrian is a fellow
whose wife beats him to the
garage.
-Antenna, Great Lakes, III.
'Sfaci!
Don’t find fault. . . Find
a remedy. Anybody can
complain.
-Pathfinder, Fort Wayne.
Good 01 d Days?
If Patrick Henry thought
taxation without represen
tation was bad, he should
see it with representation.
-Outpost, Key West.
Sad But True
A woman never really
makes a fool of a man. She
justdirects the perfonnance.
-W.O.W. Magazine.
Digestable
You will not get indiges
tion if you swallow your
pride now and then.
-Front Line, Cedar Rapids.
Tough
Giving up smoking isn’t
enough; it’s giving up brag
ging about it that's tough.
-Borescope, Pocatello
NEWS VIEWS
Russell G. Oswald, New
York Ckirrection Clommis-
sioner
“The armed rebellion of
the type we have faced (at
Attica) threatens the de
struction of our free soci
ety.”
James Conlan, General Mo
tors sales manager
“The consumer doesn’t
just want satisfaction today
. . she wants vengeance!”
Richard Nixon, President
“We shall take all the
steps needed to see that
America is not again afflict
ed by the virus of runaway
inflation.”
U. Thani, U.N. Secretary
General, on retirement
plans:
“This is indeed the last
Staff Day in w h i c h I shall
participate.”
John R Connally, Treasuiy
Secretary;
“Tlie United States has no
intention of devaluing the
dollar by raising the price of
gold.”
Frontier
^SP^MOTI
By Gene Cox - Historian, Kings Mtn. Military Park
Crystal Ball Department; Bob Morgan has already said that
he would run for Governor in the Democratic primary next D|||r|>l| P CP|
spring. I’ll bet you that Skipper Bowles and Pat Taylor will lwilH»ll Ql IVV
make their formal announcements before the Oct. 26th session
of the legislature. Look for one to come as early as next
week, the other in mid-October. Hugh Morton, if he runs,
will also be forced into an early announcement.
At the Down East Jamboree at Atlantic Beach last weekend,
the gubernatorial candidates set up suites to greet visitors.
Skipper Bowles showed them some North Carolina Hospitality.
He served lemonade and North Carolina ham biscuits.
«««
If the vote were held today, liquor-by-the-drink would pass
In Mecklenburg County by a wide margin. The issue is closer
in Moore County. But a lot can happen between and and Nov
ember.
**«
Would every legislator who does NOT have a plan for re
structuring higher education please stand up. . . Now that
Bob Morgan says he’ll run for Governor, it’s definite that
Sen. Hector McGeachy of Fayetteville will run for attorney
general in the Democratic primary.
Commissioner of Agriculture Jim Graham sends along a
note, saying he definitely will run for reelection. Further
more, Graham adds; “I’m one politician who knows what
I’m running for.” And how about that.
*««
Candidates for lieutenant governor—most of them are still
unannounced--have a problem. They don’t want their formal
announcements to conflict with the gubernatorial announcements
that will be forthcoming. It can be said, however, that WUson
attorney Jim Hunt and HoustSpeaker PhilGowwinare on the
verge of announcing, I suspect Roy Sowers will be along with
his announcement very soon also.
One man opposed to liquor-by-the-drink in Charlotte says
he knows lliyior is here, he knows people are going to drink it,
but he adds; "I don’t want to help make it respectable,’’
Nobody talks about it much, but Gov. Bob Scott is expected
to do what he can to help Pat 'Taylor during the upcoming gub-
natorial campaign. . . One politician had a poll taken and it
showed that 63 percent of the people in North Carolina felt
the issue of higher education should be studied for two years and
restructured in 1973. Be that as it may, a compromise wiU
definitely be reached in that war.
Many years after it has
been clearly shown that com
mercial television network
programs for the nation’s
children are overly loaded
with violence, commercials
and shock, the netwoiks con
tinue to provide sub-par fare
for children.
Dean Burch, the FCC
chairman who was supposed
to do something about the
quality of commercial tele
vision, makes speeches at
this late hour, somewhat
critical of the industry, but
except for window-dressing
and relatively minor changes
and improvement, the flood
of commercial tel evision
fare for children remains
sadly lacking.
Neither Congress (its ap
propriate committees) nor the
FCC seem to have the reso
lution or will to force the
networks to undertake ade
quate reform. Meanwhile, the
nation’s children pay for
this lapse, and the crime
rate-which so many experts
have testified to be influ
enced by the wholesale crime
and violence witnessed on
t e 1 e V i s i o n-continues.
* • * •
An honest man, after re
viewing his own life, will
be inclined to let youth chart
its own course.
Centennial Celebration Oct. 10th
Almost as soon as the Battle of Kings Mountain was over
people recognized the American Victory as something special.
It wasn’t long before they started celling this battle “The
turning point of the American Revolution.”
There have been a number of celebrations commemorating
the battle. This October 10th, the park will have the one
hundred and ninety first celebration at 3;00 P.M. at the Park
amphitheatre. We would like to invite everyone to attend.
Many citizens of the Kings Mountain Area may remember
the Sesqui-Centennial Celebration when President Hoover
spoke. This celebration was perhaps the most famous of
the celebrations. One of the earliest and perhaps the first
was when Dr. William McLean met with friends and relatives
of the men who fought at Kings Mountain to re-inter the scat
tered bones and to commemorate the victory. He also erected
one of the earliest battleground markers in the nation at the
common grave of Major William Chronicle, Captain John
Mattocks, William Rabb and John Boyd. This marker still
stands but it has been so ravaged by time and vandals that
in 1909 the Kings Mountain Chapter, Daughters of the American
Revolution, erected a duplicate monument. The park has
on file part of the speech Dr. McLean gave.
The next celebration was held in 1855 where companies
of Militia from North and South Carolina and Virginia camped
on the battleground for several days. About 15,000 people
attended this celebration.
Months of preparation preceded the Centennial Celebratio^
in 1880. Prior to the celebration an organization was forme
which was the start of the present Kings Mountain National^
Military Park. The organization was called the Kings Moun
tain Battleground Association who purchased from private
owners thirty nine and one-half acres of land comprising the
battleground. Interestingly enough, it was in 1872 that the
first National Park land in the world was set aside which
is the present Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. The records
haven’t been consulted as to where Kings Mountain ranks, but
it is among the first of the early parks. In 1972, the Cen
tennial year of the first park, celebrations are being planned
throughout the National Park System. A World Conference
is also scheduled at Yellowstone. In 1909, another celebra
tion took place when the second monument on the battlefield
was dedicated. Something new was added when a demonstra
tion of the original battle was given by seven companies of
National Guards. The 1930 celebration had approximately
75,000 people in attendance and this was the last big cele
bration.
However, for the past several years, members of local
chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution have
sponsored with the National Park Service ceremonies on the
Sunday nearest the anniversary date of the battle. Don’t
forget the celebration coming on October 10th.
'It's from that company that sold us this 'Dream Retirement Home
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