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VOLUME 90 - NUMBER 101 - THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27.1979 - KI/Vf;.S MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
Audit Big
News Story
Of 1979
Compiled by Lib Stewart
As the strains of "Auld Lang
Syne", tradltionsil harbinger of
a brand new year are played
Monday night, Kings Mountain
area citizens can look back on
1970 as a year In which they
generally had their share of fun,
prosperity, happiness and
sadness.
1979.
Tile year will be remembered
for many things.
The top news story in Kings
Mountain, audit of the city by
the Department of Housing and
Urban Development of its
Community Development
Program got major attention In
the news and It will probably be
well Into New Tear 1980 before
resolvement of 11 questions of
which the city Is Ming answers
and for which city officials say
they can document spending of
nearly $1 mllUon In federal
fluids.
Nor YvUl the top news story In
the nation be resolved with the
(Turn to page 6A)
n
HONORED BY FIREMEN—The Kings Mountain Fire
Department presented plaques to two former members Thur
sday In appreciation of years of dedicated service. In top photo Is
John White, who retired after to years In the department. Bottom
photo, fireman Ronnie Hawkins presents a plaque to Mrs. L.D.
Scruggs In memory of her husband, Rev. Scruggs, who before his
death served as the department chaplain.
>
entrance of New Year 1980.
America has had troublesome
problems before In Its dealing
with other countries but none
has seemed so fraught with
potential danger as that
now with Iran where 00
Americans are being held
hostage at the American Em
bassy In Tehran. This country
has sought not to be placed in a
"damned If you do and damned
if you don’t" position. It Is,
nevertheless being pushed
^ward that point.
Another major news event
which affects all Americans,
and where KM area citizens
have felt the pinch of the
economy, is the rising costs of
gasoline and fuel oil. Predictions
of higher rates for gasoline cast
another bad omen for us In the
New Year 1980.
Month by month, the com
pilation from headlines of the
Kings Mountain Herald, shou
some of the major news events
of 1979.
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Photo by Gary Stewart
CONCERNED FOR HOSTAGES-Mrs. Naomi Hutto of Kings
Mountain stands In her front lawn which she decorated with
white clcth*' tn show her concern for the 50 American hostages
being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Mrs. Hutto tied a
white cloth around her mailbox and trees.
Mrs, Hutto '^Arm-Bands* Her Trees
Concern For Hostages
By GARY STEWART
Co-Editor
For several weeks. Americans
have worn white arm bands and
flown their flags as a show of
concern for the 50 Americans
being held hostage at the U.S.
Embassy in Tehran.
Mrs. Naomi Hutto, who lives
on Margrace Road, has gone one
better. She’s decorated ever>’
tree in her front yard, as well as
her mailbox, with ■.-■bite cVjih#
“I don’t go anywhere to wear
an arm band, and I don’t own a
flag," she said. "So I decided to
show my concern by wrapping
white cloths airound my trees.”
Mrs. Hutto, who lives In a
house trailer, got the Idea from a
gospel radio station in Black
Mountain which rings church
bells every hour on the hour and
asks its listeners to pause for a
minute of silent prayer for the
hostages.
"Hiis is a way that I can show
that I pray for the hostages and
think about them," said Mrs.
H'jtto. "I wish they could all be
ofOn think what it would
be like if one of my sons was
over there. I’ve always thought
of others as well as I do myself."
Mrs. Hutto said she really
didn’t believe anyone would
notice her lawn.
"My daughter Toy (Mrs.
Vernon Smith) came down one
day and asked me ‘why in the
world have you tied a rag
around all of your trees’?’’, she
said. "Since then, several people
have commented on them.”
Mrs. Hutto supports President
Carter’s handling of the
situation.
"I think it’s horrible," she
said. "I hope they (the Iranians)
don't do' anything to the
hostages. I wonder what they’d
think if we would do this to all
the Iranians In this country. But
we won’t do that because the
United States has a heart.
“I think the United States is
doing all they can to keep from
going to war,” she continued. "I
reckon if they have to go to war
they will. The President is doing
as good a job as he can. He’s
afraid if he does anything,
they'll kill them. It would do
those people (the Iranians) good
to kill them.
"I don't see what they're so
mad at the United States for
doctoring the Shah," she went
(xi. "If you can save somebody's
life, you should.”
Moving Upsets City Police
Moving Day Friday of oc
cupants of the KM Chamber of
Commerce and Merchants
Association offices in the
Community Center to the old
City Hall on S. Piedmont Ave.
was getting some flak from city
police personnel who want the
old City Hall to be renovated into
a KM Law Enforcement Center.
The move was dictated after a
recent finding on HUD's audit of
the Community Development
Block Grant Program that said
KM is not complying with low-
income criteria by allowing
organizations to rent the plush
office spaces in the Community
Center on Cleveland Ave.
Since the (Center was ex
panded, two of the offices have
housed the combined KM
Merchants Association and
Chamber of Commerce and that
of Jerry King, and Community
Development Corporation.
Following Hud's directive.
King's office and the C of C and
Merchants Association were
moved. King's office to the new
Kings Mountain Government
Facilities Building and the C of
C and retSLilers groups to the old
City Hall in what was the city
utility department.
A spokesman for the KM
Police Department said that the
police staff have used small
quarters at the back of the
building and offices in the
basement in “cramped and rat-
infested quarters” for years in
the hope that when renovation of
the building to a Law En
forcement Facility was ac
complished that police would
utilize the old utility department
for dispatcher offices.
Moved out of the new City Hall
and into offices at the Com
munity Center was the CETA
program, another move which
complies with the HUD
requirements.
“We're very disappointed.”
said a police department
spokesman.
r
Kings Mountain Woman
Gets 10-Year Sentence
Superior Court Judge Robert
D. Lewis of Asheville sentenced
Kay Wright of Kings Mountain
to 10 years in prison on two
counts of accessory after the
fact of murder in McDowell
County Superior Court last
week.
Active prison sentence was
also handed down to Henry
Burnette, three to five years on
charges of being an accessory to
the murder of Cathy Mosely, 24,
and 10 years in connection with
the murder of Kathy Ciames, 23.
One Paper
Next Week
Because New Year’s Day (alls
on our regular Tuesday press
day, the Herald will again
publish only one paper next
week.
It will appear under the date
of Thurs., Jan. 3.
Deadline for news and ad
vertising will be Friday at 6 p.m.
We will be closed Monday and
Tuesday.
The sentencing of the two
ended the case that began in
McDowell County in July when
Danny Parton, formerly of
Bessemer City, led authorities
to the bodies of the two women
and said he knew where there
were more. Parton later
retracted his statement and an
extensive search of the area
around Marion turned up
nothing.
Parton was convicted last
week of first degree murder in
the deaths of the two women and
sentenced to two consecutive life
terms in prison.
Burnett testified that he was
with Parton when he burled the
bodies of the two women last
summer. He also told the court
that he was in Parton’s home in
the North Cove Community
along with Miss Wright when
Parton aillegedly told him that
he had killed his wife, a
reference to Ms. Mosley. Bur
nette also told the court that he
accompanied Parton and Miss
Wright on a drive to a wooded
area where Parton burled the
body.
Photo by Rick McDaniel
WALT DISNEY CHARACTERS are actually teachers who
dressed up to entertain during the recent KM District Schools
Band Concert to kickoff a fund-raising drive by parents to help
defray costs of the band trip to Disney World In Orlando, Fla. The
fund drive begins this week.