Tuesday
20c
Volume 94, Number 37
Tuesday, May 12, 1981
Kings Mountain, North Carolina
I
RETIRING-Vcteran Cornwell Drug Company
salesman Miunes Houston is retiring alter a
long career but plans to deeote more time to
PHOTO BY LIB STEWART
his iamily ond politics. He will seek a third
term on the city board oi commissioners this
Fall.
Humes Houston Retires
BY ELIZABETH STEWART
Stall Writer
Samuel Humes Houston, 62,
completed his last day of work
Friday as a salesman at Cornwell
Drug Company and now after
34 years of following a regular
work schedule is ready to devote
fulltime duty to his family,
politics and retirement.
‘And it’s going to be wonder
ful*, said Houston as he relaxed
this week with his wife, Dot, at
their home on S. Deal Street.
The personable, two4erm city
commissioner from District Two
and retired Major in the North
Carolina National Guard is
definitely running for a third
term on the city board of com
missioners this Fall. Commis
sioner Houston’s military
background in management,
supply and personnel procedures
and his long affiliation with the
public has made him a valuable
member of the Moss Administra
tion team for nearly sbt years. As
Planning and Training Officer
for the lOSth Engineer Bat
talion, NCNG, he led 1,700
men, and when he came on the
city board six years ago he put
some of that leadership expertise
to work by chairing and helping
develope what is now the city’s
first personnel policy and supply-
purchase order system, some of
which he had seen work effec
tively for the 105th Engineer
Battalion.
Houston, who served with
General of the Army George
Patton’s Third Battalion in the
94th fnfantry Division in
Europe, retired in 1968 after ser
ving as a commissioned officer
for 28 years. He organized the
Kings Mountain National
Guard Unit as the 3rd Battalion,
120th Infantry, back in the early
40’s with a handful of men, led a
fund-raising effort to build what
is now one of the nicest head
quarters building in the state,
and saw the Guard grow by
leaps and bounds.
Recalling his long fight to see
a National Guard Armory built
in Kings Mountain, Humes
recalled that two dozen men
helped dig the foundation and
landscaping and that Con
gressmen Basil Whitener and
Congressman Charles R. Jonas
were ringleaders in the city’s ef
fort to obtain some federal
monies to help construct the Ar
mory some 20-plus years ago.,
‘W e really started talking about
an Armory during the Tom
Fulton administration but it got
off the ground during the Glee
Bridges administration. We
almost worried these con
gressmen to death about an Ar
mory for Kings Mountain but
soon it became a reality. The
Guard used the garage in back of
the facility and built a block
building for training sessions and
drills’.he added.
Born in Mecklenburg County,
Humes moved to Kings Moun
tain at age flve with his parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hopkins
Houston and the elder Houston
became secretary-treasurer of
the old Phenix Mill. Humes
graduated in 1936 from Central
High School, and his uncle, a
retired Colonel, persuaded him
to enter West Point Preparatory
School at Fort McPhearson,Ga.
Humes said he had few math
courses at Central School, when
was then an ll-grade school, and
failech-fhe math course which
was a requirement for entering
the Academy.
Humes was one of the first
Kings Mountain boys to
volunteer for Uncle Sam’s Army
after the draft was declared. His
family wanted him to follow in
the footsteps of his ancestors and
join in the Marines. Humes
recalled that the hit song during
that period was ‘Be Home In A
Year Little Darling’, which was a
drawing card for the Army, he
said. ‘I believed all those other
guys and thought I’d get one
year duty as opposed to three
years with the Marines’, he
laughed. Little did the young
man know that it would be five
years before he would be home
to stay, and with a bronze star
medal with first oak leaf cluster
for valor.
First Lt. Houston, a member
of the Anti-Tank Company of
the 302nd Infantry Regiment,
was honored for heroic achieve
ment in connection with military
operations against the enemy in
Germany on Feb. 19,1945. On
one occasion, Humes directed
his men to withdraw and cover
him while he alone deactivated
the mine field. Humes is modest
about those experiences but his
medals attest to the fact that he
was trained extensively in that
area and many of the mines were
deactivated at night. The 32 men
in Houston’s outfit were all
specialists and Patton’s Third
Army moved fast. Houston had
no time to report to a first aid
station and came home with
frozen feet and memories that he
could write a book about. He has
a favorite charcoal drawing of
General Patton which he plans
to hang in a trophy room when
he completes renovation of his
house. That’s one of the things
my wife and I plan to do during
our retirement’,he laughed.
The Houston family was
service-oriented family.
Houston’s grandfather. Major
George Porter Houston, com
manded the Marines at Panama
in 1925 and was a close friend of
John Philip Sousa. Humes and
his four brothers all served dur
ing World War II, Humes in the
Infantry, Hoggy in the Artillery,
Johnny in the USAF, Porter in-
the Infantry and Eddie in the
Counter Intelligence Corps.
Their father had been accepted
at Annapolis but was unable to
take the appointment because of
a health problem.
Humes started to work at the
age of 12 as a paper boy for the
Charlotte Observer and then
worked during the summer mon
ths at Margrace Mill and J.E.
Herndon Company. In the early
years of growing up in Kings
Mountain, he recalls sodajerking
at the drugstore with Robert
Wright, Jim Anthony, Martin
Harmon, and Earl McGill,
among others.
He considered himself
somewhat like a fixture at the
drugstore and at his retirement
was Merchandising Manager.
The staff of Cornwell Drug
Company surprised him with a
reception at Depot Center last
Sunday which was attended by
some 300 friends and former
‘buddies’ in the National Guard.
The company presented him
with a gold watch. Humes
Houston’s early years at Kings
Mountain Drug Company in
downtown Kings Mountain was
a real training experience for him
and he worked under the leader
ship of C. D. Blanton and John
L. McGill, filRng prescriptions,
serving customers and working
behind the soda fountain. The
Rexall store had a three member
staff when Humes came home
from the Army in 1947. In later
years Charles Blanton,Jr. suc
ceeded his father, sold the family
partnership to Howard Lutz
who sold the firm several years
ago to Cornwell Drug Company
and the name of the store was
changed.
Mrs. Houston is the former
Dot Hart of Paris, Tennessee
and the family includes a son,
Sammy, who is employed by the
Davidson County &hool System
in Thomasville, two step
daughters, Laurean Sellers and
Brenda Stroupe, both of Cher-
ryville, and six grandchildren.
The family is active in First
Presbyterian Church and Humes
is a Mason and a member of
American Legion Post 155.
Named after his uncle, who
died in service with the Marines
in World War I, Humes said that
he was ‘kinda always expected to
carry on the Marine tradition'
but went with the Infantry in
stead. ‘I guess I’ve always been
gunho about the military. 1 just
like it.’
Commissioner Houston is also
proud of what Kings Mountain
has accomplished over the years
and sees himself as a ‘people per
son commissioner.’ He likes to
talk with people and has met
thousands of people during his
career at the drugstore and in the
service. ‘We have some of the
best people in the world in Kings
Mountain and when I decided
to announce for city commis
sioner I made a pledge to serve
all the people to the best of my
ability. The personnel policy is
something I think is needed and
is working in our city govern
ment. I vote my convictions.
That’s just the way I am.’
McGinnis, Cornwell
Break-Ins Reported
Thieves hit two downtown
business firms during the past
four days.
Kings Mountain Police
Department is continuing its in
vestigation of the Wednesday
night break-in at Cornwell Drug
Company and the Sunday night
break-in of McGinnis Furniture
Company on S Battleground
Avenue.
Jim McGinnis, an officer of
McGinnis Furniture Company,
said that approximately S3,000
worth of goods and cash were
stolen by a thief or thieves who
entered the building through the
skylight on the roof. Contents of
the building were damaged ap
proximately $3,000, said
McGinnis. He said drawers were
ransacked and small items that
were apparently carried out by
hand were among the goods
missing. McGinnis said he
discovered the theft when he
came to the store Monday morn
ing. McGinnis speculated that
the thieves were “selective ’ and
were looking for cash and
specific items. He said several
watches were taken and a
flashlight was removed from a
drawer, among the small items
taken in the break-in.
Alan Propst, an officer of Cor
nwell Drug Company, also
described thieves as “selective”
in the Wednesday night break-in
that netted thieyes a large
amount of drugs. Mr. Propst
said that the vandals were look-
in,;; for drugs and left their tools
X
behind. He said that doors were
broken but said that invents, y
has not been completed on the
amount of drugs taken or the
amount of damage to the
building.
Employee Is Suspended
After Writing Letter
A city employee who publicly
criticized the Mayor and Board
of Commissioners for firing
Recreation Department Super
visor Mike Nappi in an open
meeting has been suspended for
one week.
Tinky Scarborough, a
secretary and administrative
assistant in the Office of Com
munity Development, was
suspended by Community
Development Coordinator Gene
White for “violation of the per
sonnel policy.”
After the commissioners fired
Nappi on a 4-2 vote during the
April 27 board meeting, Mrs.
Scarborough wrote a letter
criticizing the open firing to the
Mayor, commissioners and the
Kings Mountain Herald.
In the letter, she said Nappi’s
work was “carefully thought
out” and was “very professional”
and she criticized the board for
not giving Nappi a chance to-de-
fend himself in executive session.
Nappi came under fire from
an employee of the recreation
department and members of the
Church Softball League.
White said Mrs. Scarborough,
whose suspension runs from
May 7 through May 15, did not
use the proper procedure in air
ing her grievances.
According to White, the city’s
personnel policy states that the
following procedures are to be
used when an employee or group
needs to resolve a work-related
problem:
1) It is to be discussed with the
immediate supervisor;
2) It is to be appealed to the
department head;
3) It is to be appealed to the
Mayor and Personnel Commit
tee.
White said he will discuss the
matter further with Mrs. Scar
borough after her suspension
time is up.
‘This is the normal procedure
for violation of the personnel
policy,” White said. “It’s no big
deal really.”
Nappi, who held the Recrea
tion Supervisor’s post for two
years, moved last Friday to Bir
mingham, Ala., to spend some
time with his ftunily before retur
ning to a home he owns in
Ocala, Fla. He worked in recrea
tion programs in Ocala before
.moving here.
EMERGENCY SERVICES-During National
Hoapltal WMk this weak Dr. M. T. Keen*. Chief
oi Department oi Emergency Medicine at
Kings Mountain Hospital, simulates a scene in
Photo by Lib Stewart
the emergency room. Mrs. Margaret Patterson,
at right, is the nursing assistant, and Mrs.
Patricia Hoyle, also a nurse, is the patient.
Enjoys Emergency Role
Dr. M. T. Keene is Chief of
the Department of Emergency
Medicine at Kings Mountain
Hospital. She enjoys her role and
points out that emergency ser
vices are provided at Kings
, Mountain Hospital 24 hours per
day.
Dr. Keene, a woman physi
cian, commented on the services
on the occasion of National
Hospital Week.
Emergency service is provided
by then rotation among
members of the regular staff dur
ing the hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
and the service provided during
the hours of 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and
all day and night Saturday and
Sunday by contact with an
Emergency Physician specialist.
Also during these hours
special diagnostic support is pro
vided by the Laboratory and
Radiology with in-hospital staff
ing until 11 p.m. and with provi
sion for these services to be
recalled in the event of emergen
cy, said Dr. Keene.
‘Emergency services are in
tended for those conditions
which are of an emergency,
serious or life-threatening nature
and which would be detrimental
to a patient’s health if treatment
was delayed’, said Dr.
Keene.’and not intended to sup
plant usual and customary treat
ment at the regular Physician’s
office during their regularly
scheduled office hours.
Conditions .such as heart at
tack, stroke, poisoning, convul
sions, bums, kidney stones, loss
of consciousness, breathing dif
ficulties, diabetic coma, and in
sulin shock are examples of con
ditions which require immediate
treatment, and incidently, are
some of the conditions which in
surance companies will reim
burse patients for Emergency
Room care.
Non-emergency conditions
such as cold, sore throat, nausea,
and conditions of several hours
or days duration are not con
sidered emergencies and most in
surance companies will not reim
burse the patient for these ex
penses, Dr. Keene pointed out.