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Tuesday
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VOLUME 96. NUMBER 47
TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 1981
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
KM Military Park
Summer Programs Begin
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Photo by Lib Stowort
BENNETT WEARS MANY HATS-Luthor Bon-
nott, chairman oi the city election board and a
Phenix Plant employee for many year*, wears
many hats. He has been
phases oi community life.
actiye in many
Luther Wears Many Hats
BY ELIZABETH STEWART
Co-Editor
. Luther Bennett, 62, Burl
ington Industries’ versatile and
personable Employment and
Training Manager and a veteran
employee at the Phenix Plant for
over 33 years, wears many hats.
Kings Mountain Elections
Board Chairman since the incep
tion of the municipal elections
board, Bennett burned the mid
night oil for years when the elec
tions board was formed with its
primary duty to supervise elec
tion procedures in the city and
take the responsibility of obtain
ing judges, registrars and poll
workers for city elections every
two years. The city commission
is expected to appoint him to
another term at the June
meeting. The board also ap
points two members of the board
and a secretary.
Since the city’s non-partisan
election to choose three commis
sioners is coming up on Oct. 6th,
Luther expects to be busy in the
next few months. When can
didates file they make their in
tentions known with Bennett
and when citizens have ques
tions about polling places and
registration they also call Luther
or his wife, Dot, who finds that
answering the telephone is a full-
*ime job during the election
I season.
Counting of the votes should
be done in quick order this year
since the city will use two new
voting machines at the two poll
ing places. Kings Mountain Ar
mory and Kings Mountain Com
munity Center. Luther can
remember when it “took alt
night to count votes in a city
election” and some of his most
I memorable election season ex
periences were when he was a
candidate for then-Ward 3.
Luther cut his teeth on city
politics by running against
veteran councilman T.J. Ellison,
a neighbor and fellow church
worker at Grace United
Methodist Church. “I just decid
ed to file and didn’t get out and
I beat the bushes for votes. Tom-
* my licked me but I came back
the next round and beat him and
two years after that finished first
in a three-man race. The fourth
time out Luther was ousted by
Ellison who lost by eight votes in
a run-off with Corbet Nicholson.
“We don’t get as excited in
Kings Mountain as we used to
do in the good ole days,” recalled
Luther. Nowadays voters ques-
^ tion Luther about voting places
and wonder why they have to
travel across town from East
Kings Mountain to vote at the
West King Mountain precinct.
Luther says he explains to these
residents of Second Street and
other areas that only by chang
ing the county line will citizens
be able to vote in the area they
reside. When Kings Mountain
utilized the ward system some
years ago with the four “old”
wards Luther said there was a
polling place in each ward.
Citizens used to vote at the old
KM Manufacturing clubroom,
for instance, and at the old City
Hall.
With the six district organiza
tion only two polling places are
utilized. Citizens want to know
why they can’t just go to City
Hall and cast their vote but
Luther reminds them that the
whole purpose of the elections
board procedure is to get out of
City Hall. Luther sees a real need
for an update in the county line
and has made these suggestions
to the proper sources. He
estimated that approximately
4,200 people are registered to
vote in a city election with a tur
nout of between 1700 to 2400,
depending on whether or not a
mayoral race developes.
A native of Kings Mountain,
Luther Bennett grew up in the
Old Dilling Mill section and is
son of the late Henry and Bertie
Bennett. After his father’s
death.Luther went to work as a
twister hand in the Old Dilling
Mill at age IS, studied in the
mornings at Kings Mountain
High School and worked the se
cond shift. He worked a year at
the Pauline Plant and in 1944
went into the Army and served
two years in the Army Medical
Corps. For about 18 months he
was an insurance salesman for
Jefferson Standard Life In
surance Company.
Joining Burlington Mills’
Phenix Plant in 1947, Luther
has worked in virtually every
department. He was in the spinn
ing room for 10 years, worked as
a fixer, moved to the shipping
department as a clerk for eight
years, and worked at
Burlington’s Pinnacle Plant in
Cherryville for over five years.
He worked in both supervisory
and production jobs and for 10
years was the company’s person
nel and training manager. Three
years ago he was promoted to
Employment and Training
Manager and in this capacity
hires, screens and interviews all
employees and supervises two
vestibule and on-tloor instruc
tors who train the employees on
all three shifts. Bennett super
vises all new employees from the
time they enter the plant until
they are placed in a department,
whether it is two days or 12
weeks.
“1 like people and 1 enjoy my
work very much,” said Mr. Ben
nett.
Recalling the many new im
provements and changes over
the years in the Phenix Plant,
Mr. Bennett said that it was not
unusual in the early years for
employees to work in 110 degree
temperatures, in poor lighting,
and do all winding by hand. The
biggest change has been in the
Cardroom where no lifting is re
quired of a 74 pound lap. A
shute feed is used now and a
woman can navigate this work
easily. Strip daylight lighting is a
big contrast in the mills of today,
there is air-conditioning, a clean
environment, canteens, polished
floors, and automatic winders, to
name a few of the many im
provements of the industry.
A layleader at Grace United
Methodist Church, Luther is
chairman of the Pastoral Rela
tions committee and on the ad
ministrative board. He is the
outgoing president of the Kings
Mountain Lions Club and has
been active in the Lions club for
many years.
He served three years as a
trustee at Kings Mountain
Hospital and from 1957-61 was a
Ward 3 City Commissioner. He
is a member of the Cleveland
County Employment Commis
sion Advisory Board. Luther and
his daughter, Linda Burgess, are
partners in Linwood Auto Sales.
Mrs. Bennett is the former
Dot Barnette, Kings Mountain
native. The Bennetts are parents
of two daughters, Linda Bennett
Burgess of Shelby, who operates
Linwood Auto Sales in Kings
Mountain, and Gail Bennett
Manning, who is executive direc
tor of the Gaston County Red
Turn To Pag* 5
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Poggy Daviaon
The Kings Mountain National
Military Park presents its first
evening programs of the 1981
summer season on Friday and
Saturday, June 19th and 20th.
Friday, June 19th, at 8:30
p.m., two Revolutionary War
soldiers return to tell what hap
pened on October 7,1780. While
the shadows lengthen on the
foothills of the Blue Ridge
Mountains dare to take a
candlelight tour of the 1.5 mile
Study Bill
Under Fire
A bill directing that a study be
conducted of the so-called
teacher tenure statute before the
October meeting of the General
Assembly is under fire by the
North Carolina Association of
Educators.
Dean B. Westmoreland, of
Kings Mountain, a past state
president of the teacher’s group
who is a director, said he agrees
with Mrs. Loretta M. Martin, a
Thomsville teacher serving as
NCAE president, that Senate Bil
621 is a “back-door attempt to
destroy job security for the
state’s public school educators
and is an unfair attempt by the
State School Board Association
to do by study commission what
it cai.not do by legislation.”
Mrs. Martin said the North
Carolina School Boards Associa
tion has been promising all this
session of the General Assembly
that it would sponsor legislation
to replace the present Fair
Employment and Dismissal
statute with a five-year
Turn To Pag* 5
FREE PASSES
All persons ages 65 and over
who reside in the Kings Moun
tain School District may obtain
free passes to all activities at
Kings Mountain High School.
Interested persons may go by the
principal’s office and show proof
of age.
BLOODMOBILE
The Cleveland County Red
Cross Bloodmobile will be at
First Baptist Church on June 30
from 12 noon until 5:30 p.m.
The visit is being sponsored by
civic groups of the city.
Battlefield Trail with two par
ticipants of the battle-a patriot
and a loyalist-who share their
impressions of the Battle of
Kings Mountain. All who are in
terested are asked to meet at the
National Park Visitor Center at
8:15 p.m. The tour will begin
promptly at 8:30 p.m. The par
ticipants will be portrayed by
Park Interpreters Steve Marlowe
and Wes Narron.
Saturday, June 20th, from
6:30 til 9:30 p.m., you can return
to the year 1803 as the Park’s in
terpretive staff guides you on an
exciting tour of the Howser
House by candlelight. This local
ly famous 178-year old home is a
fascinatging example of stone
masonry and carpentry of the
1800’s. The tours will describe
how Henry Howser carved a
comfortable life in the Carolina
back-country as a farmer,
stonemason, distiller, and miller.
Meet at the National Park
Visitor Center for directions to
the home. Park Interpreters
Jeanne Gold and Wes Narron
host the tour of the home.
Weather permitting, the Liv
ing History program will con
tinue on ^turday and Sunday
afternoons. A small Revolu
tionary War campsite will be set
up near the Visitor Center and
tended by Park employees in
Revolutionary period dress. 18th
century musket and rifle firing
demonstrations will be given at
IflO, 2K)0, 3:00, and 4J)0
o’clock.
Other ongoing daily activities
include:
an 18-minute film “Kings
Mountain-Turning Point in the
South”
an 11-minute audio-visual
museum tour
U mile Battlefield Trail
16 mile system of hiking trails
10 mile Horse Trail
The public is invited and en
couraged to attend all programs
and activities. There are no ad
mission fees for any of the pro
grams.
Funeral Services Held
For Luther P* Baker Ir*
Funeral services for Luther
Philip Baker Jr., 67, of 1203
Shelby Road, were conducted
Saturday morning at 11 o’clock
from Resunection Lutheran
Church of which he was a
member.
Rev. Gerald Weeks officiated
at the rites, and interment was in
Mountain Rest Cemetery.
Mr. Baker succumbed Thurs
day in Gaston Memorial
Hospital.
He was the son of the late
Mary Tipton Polyette Baker and
Dr. Luther Baker and was mar
ried to the former Ruby Hughes.
Surviving, in addition to his
wife, are one son, Luther Philip
Baker, 111 of Kings Mountain;
one daughter, Mrs. NJ. (Mary
Ellen) Abernathy of Asbury,
N.J.; three brothers. Dr. Robert
Baker and Dr. Thomas Baker,
both of Kings Mountain, and
Richard Baker of Rock Hill,
S.C.; one sister, Mrs. Leonard
(Peggy) Fulford of Knoxville,
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L.P. Bak*r Ir.
Mr. Baker attended Davidson
College. He served as a dental
assistant to his father. Dr. L.P.
Baker Sr. until 1953.
Tenn. and two grandchildren
and two great-grandchildren.
Mr. Baker had retired as a
representative for Marine Sales
& Service Company.
m
David Bradl*y
L** N*Ul*r
Donna Seism
Students In Close-Up N.C.
Four Kings Mountain Senior
High students, Peggy Davison,
Lee Neisler, Danna Seism and
David Bradley, and their teacher
coordinator Dean
B.Westmoreland, have returend
from Raleigh where they attend
ed the fourth annual Close Up-
North Carolina.
A total of 300 students and
their teachers attended the
educational program which was
designed to allow students and
their teachers to interact with
state officials, legislators,
representatives from the news
media, lobbyist organizations,
etc. through panel dicussions.
seminars, and question and
answer sessions. The program
was modeled after the highly
successful National Close Up
program which provides oppor
tunities for teachers and students
to use Washington as a
classroom in the same manner
that Raleigh is used for the
North Crolina program.
Close Up-North Carolina, in
its fourth year of operation, is
governed and operated by a
working advisory committee of
teachers and administrators from
North Carolina School systems
and othr governmental agencies
and by the Social Studies Divi
sion of the North Carolina
Department of Public Instruc
tion.
Approximately 115 high
schools, including the North
Carolina Schools for the Deaf,
participted in Uie recent pro
gram.
R. J. Reynolds, Inc. provides
partial funding lor Close-Up
North Carolina in which school
systems are invited to participate
on a rotation basis.
Speakers for the sessions were
Dr. Dudley Flood, Assistant
State Superintendent; Jim Berry
of WBTV News in Charlotte. Ed
Williams of The Charlotte
Observer, Supreme Court
Associate Justice James G. Ex-
um, Jr., Dr. Jerome Melton,
Deputy State Superintendent of
the Department of Public In
struction, State Auditor Edward
Renfrow, Commissioner of In
surance James Graham,
Secretary of Crime Control and
Safety Burley Mitchell, Jr.,
Department of Administration
Secretary Joseph Grimsiey,
Department of Correction
Secretary James Woodard.
Senator R. B. Jordan', 111, Rep.
Gerald Fulcher, Jr., former
Governor Bob Scott of Haw
River, and Harold Webb, direc
tor ofthe Office of State Person
nel.