Tuesday
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111 i r;iE
O • VOLUME 90 - NUMBER 97 - TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1979 - KINGS MOUNTAIN
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KM Students Suspended For Incomplete Shot Record
Returning To School
i»
All but six of the IB Kings
Mountain District students
suspended last Thursday
because of Incontplete Im
munization records were back In
school Monday morning.
Two Central School students,
two Kings Mountain Junior High
students and one East
Elementary School student
remained on suspension. One
student at Kings Mountain High
School will be suspended when
she returns to school If she does
not show complete Im
munization records, according
to records clerk Regina Dixon.
Two other students at KMHS
suspended Thursday have
returned to school.
Nineteen students were
suspended Thursday after
falling to bring their Im
munization records Into com-
9
C
LAlH>BBIDOE8
• Ladd, 10,
Is Now A
U.S. Citizen
^ Ladd Bridges, 10, native of
Seoul, Korea, son of Mr. and
Mrs. Dennis Bridges of Kings
Mountain, became an American
dtlzen Frl., Nov. 80th.
Naturalization ceremonies for
Ladd and 108 petitioners
presenting 24 countries, were
held In United SUtes -Blstrlct
Oourt-Westem District of North
A Carolina at 11 a.m. before the
H(hi. Judge Marvin R. Wooten of
Charlotte.
Ladd was adopted Into the
home of Eonnle and Dennis
Bridge* and their daughter,
Rhonda, age 16, on March 81,
1976.
"It was a happy day for our
family," said Mrs. Bridges.
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Idlance with state requirements.
Parents had been notified at the
opening of school and had been
given SO school days to have
their children fully Immunized.
Rachel Bolt of Central School
and Assistant Principal Oary
Shields at Kings Mountain
Junior High said Monday
morning that they expect their
students back In school any day.
Mrs. Bolt said the Central
students are not being counted
truant because their suspension
KM Receiving
Accreditation
All five city elementary
schools and Central School are
receiving accreditation by the
Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools and Kings Mountain
Senior High Is being reac-
credlted at the three-day
association meeting, which
continues through Thursday, In
Atlanta, Oa.
The eighth school. Kings
Mountain Junior High, has
completed the extensive work
for accreditation but the ac
creditation was delayed because
several teachers were teaching
"out of field," and officials say
the process Is "cleared now for
accreditation In the near
future.”
Representing the Kings
Mountain District Schools at the
. meetlag . are Supt. WllHam -
Davis, Director of Instruction
Howard Bryant; Robert McRm,
KMSHS principal; Dean
Westmoreland, chalrmsui of the
high school accreditation
committee; Joe Hedden,
principal of West School; Jim
Scruggs, principal of Grover
School; Fred Withers, principal
of KM Junior High; Mrs. Cozell
Vance, principal of East School;
Richard Green, principal of
Oentral School; Connie Allison,
principal of North School; Mrs.
Glee E. Bridges, coordinator of
reading and math programs In
the system; and Ms. Jane
Shields, coordinator of the
schools program for exceptional
children.
LIONS MEETINO
Grady K. Howard, Director of
Kings Mountain Hospital, will be
the speaker at the monthly
meeting of the Lions Club at 7
p.m. tonight at Kings Mountain
Inn. Howsu^l will speak on the
planned renovation and ex
pansion the hospital. Rev.
George Sherrill arranged the
program.
notices read "suspended until
proof of Immunization Is given
to the school."
Shields said the two Junior
high students are _ being
regarded truant becsiuse "this Is
not an excused absence."
However, Shields said he per
sonally knows both students
and doesn’t foresee any
problems in them returning to
school.
"If 1 have to,”he sald,"I'll go
out and find them and see what
the problem Is. They could have
a transportation problem and If
they do I'll Just have to take
them to the health department
and get their shots and get them
back In school."
One Central student and two
Junior high students returned to
school at mld-momlng Monday,
giving school officials reason to
believe the immunization
problem would be cleared up
this week.
Fire Destroys
Bam, Animals
Over 100 firemen from four
area fire departments battled a
Sunday night fire which
destroyed a barn, several
animals and farm equipment at
the residence of Sam Hewitt on
Route 2, Kings Mountain.
Although no official damage
amount was available, several
firemen estimated the loss to be
approximately $26,000.
The building, located atop
Ihiffman Hill in the edge of
South Carolina near Kings
Mountain National Military
Park, was a total loss. Also
destroyed were several
bicycles, a farm tractor, lawn
mower and other equipment. Six
hunting dogs, a cow and a hog
were killed.
Origin of the 9:39 p.m. fire Is
not yet known but It is still under
Investigation. Bethlehem,
Grover, Antioch and Blacksburg
fire departments responded.
Bethlehem and Grover
firemen also responded to a
trailer fire Sunday at 2:30 p.tn.
in the Hilltop Community near
Lake Montonla.
The trailer, owned by John
Parker, was a total loss. A
woman and several small
children lived In the home,
firemen reported.
Kings Mountain Fire
Department reported no calls
over the weekend.
Ronald Cobb, 24,
Killed In Wreck
Ronald Eugene Cobb, 24, of
Rt. 2, who was missing from
home since Nov. 23, was found
dead Friday In Mecklenburg
County.
Cobb was found about 11:30
a.m. Inside the wreckage of his
idck-up truck off 1-86, according
to Ptl. H.E. Nivens of the
Charlotte Police Department.
Nivens said the truck ran off the
Interstate, traveling down a 60
foot embankment and rolled Into
a creek.
An autopsy was being con
ducted on the body, siad the
officer’s report.
Nivens said the wreckage was
not visible to normal traffic
traveling the highway. A truck
driver spotted the wrecked car
Friday and notified police.
"No one knows where he was
going or why he was In
Charlotte,” according to the
officer’s report.
Cobb was employed by Eaton
Corporation of Kings Mountain.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs
Nina Gold Cobb; his mother,
Mrs. Ann Green of Dallas; his
fiither, Dewey Cobb of Vero
Beach, Fla.; two sons, Steven
and Johnny Cobb of the home;
and two sisters, Mrs. Patricia
Ann Allen of Kings Mountain
and Miss Doris Cobb of Dallas.
Funeral services were con
ducted Monday afternoon at 3
p.m. from the Chapel of Harris
Funeral Home, Interment
following In Mountain Rest
Cemetery.
.•e
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TOYS FOR TOTS UNDERWAY-Klngs Mountain Fire
Department Is ooUeoting toys lor needy tots this season and more
good, used toys are needed to fill Christmas stockings. The toys
wlU he distributed Deo. 21-22 at the Fire Department and needy
families receive pick-ups slips from their ministers to obtain the
toys. From left, Pete Peterson, chairman, Larry Smith, Bruce
Ganlpe and Bill Ware look over the assortment of toys.
Photo by Katrena McCall
006#
Inc,
P
THE WALKING MISSIONARY. . .
Rev. Thomas Lesley raising money to feed
the hungry.
Preacher Walks
To Feed Hungry
By OARY STEWART
Co-Editor
When Rev. Thomas M. Lesley
lived in Easley, S.C., he
'frequently traveled 1-86 to visit
relatives In nearby Charlotte.
However, his type of trsm-
sportation was different thsm the
one he used last week.
The missionary to Uganda
came through Kings Mountain
Friday on a 3,000 mile round-a
bout walk from Boston to Dallas
which will raise enough money
to feed 600,000 hungry Africans.
He spent a day of rest at Kings
Mountain Inn before leaving out
early Saturday morning for
Gaffney.
Lesley’s walk started as a
challenge July 4 In Boston,
which he calls home when
visiting the United States. For
every signature he gets on his
huge backpack, people In Boston
have pledged $6 over the next
two years for feeding hungry
people In Africa.
"I used to brag about riding a
bicycle from one village to
another,” Rev. Lesley said,
"and some friends told me that
If I rode -a bike across the
country they’d buy me a new
Jeep to take back to Africa with
me. I told them there was no
way I’d ride a bike across this
country considering the way
people drive over here. But I
told them I’d wsdk.”
His willingness to walk 3,000
miles was dedication enough for
his friends to provide the Jeep,
then they made him a better
deal: Go through with the walk
and they’d donate $6 for each
signature received.
Five dollars. Rev. Lesley said,
will buy enough food In Uganda
to feed 200 people for one day.
Before he’s through walking, he
expects to secure 3,000 slgs (he
already has over 2,000) at $6
each, or a total of $16,000.
The 48-year-old Rev. Lesley
has been a missionary to
Ugsinda for 16 years. He’s a
minister In the Full Gospel
Assembly of God and* before
going on the missionary field
ministered In what he calls a
"store front” In Boston which
served poor whites and blacks
and Puerto Ricans.
He works with six other
missionaries, including Bap
tists, PresbyterUuis, Methodists
and Nazarenes. He said they
'average burying 20 people a day
because of starvation and
predicts it’ll take five or six
years before the starvation
problem In that area Is solved.
"People In America eat more
at one lunch than the people In
Uganda eat In a week,” he said.
"They have only seven inches of
rain a year and can’t grow
crops. The rest of the world Is
going to have to come In and do
something. I fugiire It will take
five or six years before they csui
Irrigate and be self-sufficient.”
A day’s work for Lesley and
other missionaries Includes
going Into a village and. In this
order, feed the people, doctor
them and then talk to them
about God.
Talking to them about God Is
sometimes difficult, he said.
"They want to know what God Is
going to do for them now.
They’re not thinking about the
fiiture. They’re starving now.
"The best thing we can do to
show God to them,” he con
tinued, "Is to show them that
we’re willing to do our best as
God’s representative. They
know that God has sent you
there and this satisfies them to a
certain degree.”
Rev. Lesley, who Is unmarried
("I haven’t found anyone yet
that’ll have me,” he says) says
this will probably be his last trip
to the States. He plans to live the
rest of his life in Uganda.
’ ‘Every time I come back I see
so mwy people playing chur
ch,” he said. "Church has
become a social gathering for a
lot of people. I enjoy It down
there and Just want to stay
there.
Rev. Lesley Is covering 30
miles a day on his walk and
expects to be In Dallas on
Janusu^ 12. He plans to catch a
idane back to Uganda on the
16th.
His walk has been problem-
free, except for a sprained wrist
he received when some
teenagers In Mississippi forced
him off the road and Into a side
ditch, and a slightly sprained
ankle he received In Charlotte
when he stepped In a gopher
hole. He has spent most every
night In a nice motel and has had
to pay for room and meals only
"Six or seven times.”
“I’m really enjoying It,” he
said. "It’s been such a ball. But I
don’t know If I’d do It again. I
will say I now have a better
appreciation of the country than
I had before.”
Being so close to this relative
In the Carollnas, It would seem
Rev. Lesley would linger around
and spend Christmas with them.
"But,” he said, “In 16 years I
liaven’t been home for Christ
mas, so I’ll Just let everyone
enjoy It In their own way. I know
what the people In Uganda will
be going through on Christmas
and I Just don’t want to be
somewhere where they’re
throwing food away by the
buckets.” X