20'
VOLUME 94, NUMBER SS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 1981
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROUNA
AVOIDS PICKOFF • Kings Mountain's Robort Andsrson
hustlss back to first boso to ovoid plckoii ottompt In Sunday's
Stats Bab# Ruth Toumamsnt gams with Hsndsrsonvills at
Lancaster Flsld.
KM, East Asheville
In State BR Finals
Kings Mountain and East
Asheville were scheduled to bat
tle Wednesday night for the
KM Gas Rate
To Decrease?
The City Board of Commis
sioners will act on a proposal to
decrease the natural gas rates for
city customers at its regular bi
monthly meeting Monday night
at 7:30 at the Governmental Ser
vices Facilities Center.
Mayor John Moss received
news via of long distance
telephone conversation with
Transco, the city’s gas supplier,
Wednesday morning.
Moss said he won’t know of
the exact rate until he receives a
package from Transco later in
the week, but he predicts it will
be “at least seven cents” per
MCF. One MCF is equal to
1,000 cubic feet.
This will be good news for ci
ty natural gas customers as we
head into the cold winter mon
ths,” Moss said.
The city increased its rates in
July. Another increase is ex
pected next March.
State Senior Babe Ruth cham
pionship at Lancaster Field here.
East Asheville went into the
finals unbeaten in the double
elimination event and would
have had to lose two games.
Kings Mountain’s lone loss
entering the finals was a 4-2 deci
sion to East Asheville on Mon
day i'.ight.
The host KM nine battled
back after that defeat on Tues
day night, outscoring a good
Stanly County team by 9-6.
Stanly County had advanced to
the semi-finals with an earlier 3-0
win over Hendersonville.
The winner of the KM tourna
ment will go to Nashville, Tenn.,
Friday for the Southeastern
Regionals. The winner there will
advance to the Senior Babe Ruth
World Series at Lawrenceburg,
Tenn., August 22-29.
Robert Anderson came in
from his centerfield position at
the start of the third inning to
hurl the KM victory over Stanly
County. Starter Darrell Sisk left
trailing 1-0 after two innings.
Anderson hurled two-hit ball
for four innings but ran into pro-
Tum To Pago 6-A
Convalescent Center
Accredited By JCAH
Kings Mountain Convales
cent Center has been awarded a
certificate of accreditation by the
Joint Commission on Accredita
tion of Hospitals (JCAH).
Vickie W. Ledford, ad
ministrator, said Kings Moun
tain Convalescent Center was
evaluated during an on-site visit
by a team of JCAH surveyors
who conferred with the profes
sional staff.
Accreditation means that
Kings Mountain Convalescent
Center has voluntarily sought to
be measured against the JCAH’s
national standards, Ms. Ledford
said. The accreditation program
assists facilities in pursuing high
quality health care through
education, evaluation and con
sultation. JCAH accreditation is
professional, national recogni
tion.
The Joint Commission on Ac
creditation of Hospitals is a
private, non-profit organization
created by and composed of
health care professionals. It is
governed by representatives
from the American College of
Surgeons, American College of
Physicians, American Dental
Association, American Hospital
Association and American
Medical Association.
KM Man Beaten, Left
For Dead In Myrtle Beach
By GARY STEWART
Editor
A Kings Mountain man who
was beaten, stabbed and left for
dead near Myrtle Beach on July
25 has a few pointers for vaca
tioners: Never vacation alone,
and be careful who you choose
for your ftiends.
Joseph Lee Morrow, 25, of
Bridges Drive, was abducted
from his motel room by some
men and women whom he said
he had met and spent much time
with during his stay at Myrtle
Beach. He was robbed of $33,
taken in his own car to a dirt
road between Myrtle Beach and
Conway, beaten, stabbed and
left for dead.
Charges of armed robbery,
kidnapping and assault and bat
tery with intent to kill have been
filed against Lisa Boyns, 18, of
Myrtle Beach, Chrystal Whitley,
18, of Surfside Beach, Geraldine
Price, 21, of Florence, Timothy
Mark Riley, 18, of Boston,
Mass., Daniel Robert
Boysworth, 28, of Charlotte, and
James Lewis Guthrey, 22, of
Florence. Myrtle Beach police
are still seeking another suspect.
Morrow said he had met some
of the men on the beach on
Thursday night, July 23, and in
vited them to his room for a
drink. They drank, talked and
played a guitar which he had
taken with him.
On Friday night, he said, two
of the men and one woman came
to his room again and after they
drank and talked some more, all
but one of the men left.
“I told him it was my last
night there and I was going to
walk down on the beach one
more time,” Morrow said. ‘Tie
went with me and after we walk
ed for awhile, I told him I was
going back to my room.”
Morrow said he was stretched
out on his bed when he heard a
knock on the door. He answered
it and two of the men, along
with another he had never seen,
were at the door. He said he let
them in and the one whom he
had never seen attacked him
from behind and held him while
the others searched his room.
Morrow said they found a
knife, $33 and his car keys in his
suitcase. He said the rest of the
group came into the room later,
and after being roughed up a bit
there, they left in his car.
After stopping on the dead-
Turn To Pag* 3-A
lOE MORROW
Herald
Break-In
Reported
Kings Mountain police are in
vestigating a weekend break-in
at Herald Publishing Company
on East King Street.
According to police, someone
entered the newspaper office
during the night ^turday and
stole an undetermined amount
of cash and merchandise.
Detectives have taken finger
prints, footprints and tire tracks.
Darrell Austin, General
Manager of the Herald, saM the
company is in the process of in
stalling a burglar alarm system.
The Herald has been broken into
three times in recent months.
Entry was gained by throwing
a rock through a window on the
east side of the building.
KMHS SCHEDULES
Kings Mountain Senior High
students may pick up their
schedules for 1981-82 on Tues.,
Aug. 11 and Wed., Aug. 12 in
the lobby of B.N. Barnes
Auditorium. The schedules will
be available from 9-12 a.m. and
1-3 p.m. each day.
TEA SUNDAY
The Zionettes and members of
Bynum Chapel A.M.E. Zion
Church invite members of the
community to a get-acquainted
tea for Dr. and Mrs. Bernard
Thombs Sunday from 6-8 p.m. at
the Depot Center.
Dr. Thombs is practicing inter
nal medicine in Kings Mountain
and Shelby.
KM Teacher Indicted
Kings Mountain High School
teacher Kenneth Blanton and
two other men were indicted
Monday by a federal grand jury
in Charlotte on three counts of
violating federal weapons law.
Indicted along with Blanton
were Robert Allen Patrikios of
Apex, a licensed gun dealer and
former Raleigh policeman, and
Michael E. Meszaros of Raleigh,
a school teacher.
The charges followed a seven-
month investigation by the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms.
Bobby Marshall, ATF in
vestigation office group super
visor in Charlotte, said Blanton
was charged with possession of
unregistered firearms, aiding and
abetting the possession of
unregistered firearm and aiding
and abetting the transfer of an
unregistered firearm. If con
victed, he said, Blanton faces a
sentence of up to 30 years in
prison and a $30,000 fine.
Blanton is a teacher in the In
dustrial Cooperative Training
(ICT) program at KMHS, and is
Turn To Pag* 7-A
Selling Papers To Help
Finance Mountain Trip
Bertha Ellison of 206 North
Dilling Street has a special
reason for participating in the
H*rald'a new subscription
drive.
The 75-year-old Kings Moun
tain resident, and many of her
senior citizen friends at First
Wesleyan Church, plan an Oc
tober 28 trip to Pigeon Ford,
Tenn.
Some of the younger members
of the church urged the senior
citizens to plan the trip and said
they would sponsor bake sales,
rock-a-thons and other activities
to raise money to finance the
trip.
“I wanted to do something on
my own,” Mrs. Ellison said, “and
after seeing in the paper about
the subscription drive, I decided
I’d try that.”
Mrs. Ellison had already sold
nine new subscriptions before
picking up her sub^ription sales
BERTHA ELLISON
package at the H*rald Monday
morning.
‘The young people said it will
take about $50 each for us to
spend the night at Pigeon Ford
and eat,” Mrs. Ellison said. “The
young people said they would
try to raise $50 for each one of
us so we’d have that much to
play with. 1 told them it had
been a long time since I had $50
to play with.”
Mrs. Ellison will receive $4.00
for each $8.00 yearly subscrip
tion she sells. Otherswho sell at
least 20 new subscriptions have
their choice of a number of
prizes, including bicycles, televi
sion sets, tape players, and other
items, or they, too, may elect to
take $4.00 cash for each
subscription.
The subscription drive con
tinues throughout the month of
August. Any persons interested
in selling subscriptions for cash
andbr prizes are urged to come
by our office at the intersection
of East King Street and Canter
bury Road. A full page advertise
ment on page 11-B of today’s
paper explains all the details.
Mrs. Ellison said any persons
interested in subscribing through
her may call her at 739-2405.
Vital Statistics On KM District Schools
On Auguat 25th Kings Mountain public schools will r*tum to
schooL Sine* th* thoughts of many will again b* focussd on
th* schools, th* Sup*rlnt*nd*nt and th* school staff will b*
providing Information to th* H*rald which will b* th*
substanc* of s*T*nt**n spoclal articl** on th* Kings Mountain
Schools.
Th* Articl* opp*orlng In this Issu* Is lnt*nd*d to provld*
gsnsral Information and vital statistics on th* locol school
systom. N*xt w**k's articl* will *xplaln th* natur* of th*
school mointonanc* program with spoclal omphosis on school
building rofurnishlng which can only tak* plac* during th*
summor months.
In North Carolina there are 142 administrative school units of
school districts. One hundred of them are county school districts and
42 of them are city school units similar to Kings Mountain. All of the
city administrative units were created by special act of the legislature
and were, in most cases, created in order to provide special advantages
to the children who lived in a special local tax district. The Kings
Mountain City School Unit was established in 1927. Presently there is
a special school tax in the Kings Mountain School District of 14‘ per
$1(X) property evaluation. Revenue from this special Kings Mountain
SchooL tax is used mainly to provide additional teachers for the pur
pose of reducing class size and offering additional courses, and for sup
plementing the salaries of teachers and purchasing additional instruc
tional materials, supplies and equipment.
THE UNIQUE NATURE OF THE
KINGS MOUNTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICT
When compared with the forty-one other North Carolina city school
districts the Kings Mountain School District is unique in several ways.
The local school district lines encompass a much greater area outside
of the corporate limits of the city than is typeial of most city units.
By
William Davis
Superintendent,
KM Schools
More of the Kings Mountain School district lies outside of Kings
Mountain City limits than within. There are twenty-five North
Carolina counties with fewer total students than the 4300 enrollment
of the Kings Mountain School District. All of these are in the moun
tains or on the coast. Even though Kings Mountain is still considered a
city school unit by the State Department of Public Instruction, the
name Kings Mountain City Schott has been changed locally to Kings
Mountain Dis'rkt Schook.
The Kings Mountain School District comprises about l7Vo of the
total land area of Cleveland County and enrolls slightly more than
25Vo of the total of public school students in the county. In earlier
years the boundaries of the local school district and the Kings Moun
tain City limits were more nearly conterminous. In 1961 citizens in the
school zones served by four county schools: Bethware, Grover, Com
pact, and Park Grace, voted in a special referendum to approve legisla
tion which would bring those schools into the Kings Mountain School
System. The latter two schools have since been closed.
In an era when most city school systems are shrinking dramatically
because people are choosing not to five in old city neighborhoods the
area annexed in 1961 has enabled the Kings Mountain School System
to hold its own with only a slight drop in enrollment. Areas such as the
Woodbridge Development, White Plains, Quail Hollow and similar
new residential areas outside of the City of Kings Mountain, but in the
Kings Mountain School District, promise to provide the local school
system with a healthy flow of students for the foreseeable future.
Just as important to the health of the school district as the new
homes that have been built will be built in the annexed areas is the
growing number of industrial plants such as Eaton, Sulzer, Old Domi
nion, Reliance and others which have been built south and west of the
city. These new corporate citizens have already improved the tax base
of the school district considerably. There is ample room for further
business and industrial expansion within the school district and is ex
pected to occur within the next ten years.
The fact that the Kings Mountain School District extends well
across the County line into Gaston gives it its second rather unique
characteristic. Only the Rocky Mount City School System and the
Kannapolis City System in addition to Kings Mountain lie in more
than one county. In Gaston County the Kings Mountain School
District lines are conterminous with the corporate limits of Kings
Mountain which also extends into Gaston County. Last year there
were 198 students enrolled from the Gaston County segment of the
school district, an increase of 58 students over the previous year. This
unique feature of the school district has proved to be of no advantage
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