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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1981
VOLUME 94, NUMBER 74
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
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1981 Year Of Triumph And Tragedy
As Kings Mountain area
citizens watch for the new year
to come in tonight, they can
think back on a year of triumph
and tragedy.
The top stories of 1981, as in
past years, fell under the old
“good news, bad news”category.
That routine held true in
politics, the economy and the
every day living of life for Kings
Mountain citizens.
The area landed two new in
dustries early in the year, and
that served as good news for the
local economy, but as the year
closed many people in the area
were being faced with the
ptossibility of losing their jobs.
The year saw high and low
spots in city politics, with several
controversial decisions facing
the Kings Mountain Board of
Commissioners, and many con
troversies spilling onto the floor
of open board meetings, and
commissioners facing criticism
for making many decisions in ex
ecutive session.
Citizens were shocked by the
fragic deaths of three teenagers
who burned in a barn fire near
Kings Mountain Junior High
School, and the hunting accident
which claimed the life of com
munity leader Lou Sabetti Sr.,
and the natural deaths of two
long-time physicians in Kings
Mountain, Dr. Paul Hendricks
and Dr. Phillip Padgett.
The top 10 stories of the year,
as judged by the Harold, includ
ed: ^
1 • A born fir* near King*
Mountain lunior High School
which clolmad tha livas of
junior high •tudants Rod
Lawis and Jafi Wood, and
sanior high studant Todd Bar
rett
2 - Kings Mountain Boord of
Education, votes not to por-
ticipata in o merger study of
the three Cleveland County
school systems.
3 - Fiber Industries an
nouncement of a layoff
which would cost over 1,200
county citizens their jobs.
4 - Construction of Reliance
Electric Company on
Highway 74 west, and Gcaat
Dominion Corporotion on
Grover Road, opening up
mony new jobs for Kings
Mountain citizens.
5 • $5.5 million renovation
and expansion project at
Kings Mountain Hospitol.
6 - Hunting accident which
claimed the life of Lou Sobat-
ti Sr., Kings Mountain
M
MEMBERS HONORED • Howard Champion,
right, outgoing prasidant of the Bathwara Pro
gressiva Qub, chats with Myers Hambright,
'ifH left and Hal Morris after they received
awards at lost weak's Ladies Night Christmas
dinner at Bathwara School. Both Hambright
and Morris ware charter members of the club.
Progressive Club Honors
Hambright And Morris
Myers Hambright and Hal
Morris, charter members of the
Bethware Progressive Club,
were honored for their long
years of service to the club and
community at the club’s annual
Ladies Night Christmas Dinner
last Monday night at Bethware
School.
Both were presented plaques
of appreciation. Hambright
m presented Morris’s award and
Hambright’s was presented by
William Davis, Superintendent
of Kings Mountain Schools.
Officers for the coming year
were also installed by Senator
Ollie Harris. They include Jack
Harmon, president; Larry Allen,
vice president; Stokes Wright,
secretary; Rayford White,
treasurer; Jim Yarbro, assistant
W treasurer; and Allen, Hambright,
Bennett Masters and Fred Tate,
directors.
The Carolina Sounds, a local
band made up of Kings Moun
tain High School students, enter
tained the large crowd with rock
and roll, country and Christmas
songs.
Hambright recalled that the
Progressive Club many years
ago grew out of a group of
farmers, who met periodically at
the old Ware School and El
Bethel clubhouse to discuss com
munity projects.
“Hal Morris was in the group
then, and was a charter member
and participant in the club from
the time it organized in 1945 un
til now,” he said.
The club was sponsored by
the Bethware High School Voca
tional Agriculture Department,
Horton Re-Appointed
Town Clerk At Grover
4
Gloria Horton was re
appointed as Grover Town Clerk
in a special meeting of the
^ Grover Town Council last Mon-
w day night.
The meeting was called at the
request of Commissioner Vickie
Smith, who was given the ap
pointment two weeks ago when
the new board took the oath of
ofHce.
Mrs. Smith, a newcomer on
the board, said at the time she
was appointed she was led to
believe that the appointment
would be a title only, and that
Mrs. Horton would continue to
carry out the normal duties of
town clerk.
But Mrs. Smith took some
material home with her after
that meeting, and after reading
them, decided she was not
qualified-for the position.
Mrs. Horton has been town
clerk at Grover for the past four
years, except for a brief period
during the past administration
when she was relieved of her
duties. She was later rehired by
that board.
which Hambright served as
teacher for many years before
Bethware consolidated with
Kings Mountain High School.
After consolidation, Hambright
worked in the Vocational Educa
tion Department at KMHS until
his retirement last June.
“When we organized, other
groups in the area, such as the
Kiwanis and Lions, and others,
asked if we’d accept their name
and be a part of their program,”
Hambright recalled. “But we
maintained that we wanted to
have our own independent
group.”
The club, which is very active
in the Bethware Community and
each year sponsors the Bethware
Fair, was incorporated several
years later.
“Hal has been active all the
way through,” Hambright add
ed, “and has always gone far
beyond the call of duty."
Supt. Davis, in presenting
Hambright’s award, pointed out,
“One of the real measures of a
guy’s worth is the service he
gives to his community. Myers
has served the southeastern part
of Cleveland County for quite a
long time. He’s small in stature
but he stands high among the
citizens in terms of the service
he’s given to the county.”
Davis called Hambright “the
father of the Bethware Pro
gressive Club” and “probably the
whole idea of the Progressive
Club came through his service
with the Agriculture Depart
ment at Bethware Schcwl. 1 don't
know of anyone more
deserving.”
buslnassman and communi
ty loador.
7 • Stato Elsctions Board's
ruling that votos cost in the
NoTember, 1980 general
election must be re-counted.
8 - The Stote Utilities Com
mission pressured the City of
Kings Mountoin for 10 years
to updote its natural gas
system.
9 - Rev. Keimeth George,
director of the Kings Moun
tain Aging Program, resign
ed after a disagreement with
Mayor lohn Moss over two ci
ty employees.
10 - Kings Mountain Board
of Commissioners fired
Recreation Supervisor Mike
Nappi in open session.
Here is a brief review of some
of the top happenings of 1981, as
taken from the front pages of the
Kings Mountain Herald.
lANUJkRY
The year began with Mayor
John Moss predicting over 1,000
new jobs for 1981 due to in
dustrial expansion, new and im
proved housing, continuation of
many programs and the initia
tion of several new ones.
Christina May Keever,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lester
Stephen Keever of Bessemer Ci
ty, was the first baby bom in
1981 at Kings Mountain
Hospital. She arrived at 7:45
p.m. New Year’s Day and weigh
ed 11 pounds, 8 Vi ounces.
Rev. Robert E. Boggan Jr.,
pastor of Central United
Methodist Church for 4 Vi years,
was named pastor of the 800
member St. Andrews United
Methodist Church of Charlotte.
Rev. Ivan Stephens, 56, former
pastor of Glen wood United
Methodist Church in
Greensboro, was named the new
minister of the 550-member Cen
tral Church here.
Hickory Springs Manufactur
ing Company of Hickory an
nounced the acquisition of K
Mills of Kings Mountain.
Governor Jim Hunt closed
out his first term of office by an
nouncing that Reliance Electric
Company of Cleveland, Ohio,
would build a $33 million elec
tric motor and generator plant
Turn To Page 4-A
KM Woman
Is Killed
By Gunshot
A 24-year-old Kings Moun
tain woman was shot to death on
Christmas Eve at her home at
Carolina Garden Apartments in
the Northwoods section of the
city.
Joann Floyd Williams died
from a small-caliber pistol shot
under the left arm, according to
Gaston County Coroner Don
Conrad.
The shooting occured at 11:50
pjn. Thursday.
Larry Grier of Belmont was
charged with murder and posses
sion of drugs with intent to sell
and deliver, according to Deputy
Mike Criswell of the Gaston
County Police.
Funeral services were con
ducted Wednesday at 3 p.m. at
Mount Zion Bapitst Church by
the Rev. D.W. Whittenburg, the
Rev. Victor Carson, Dr. TA.
Powell and the Rev. H.H. Shipp.
Mrs. Williams is survived by
her husband, Michael Williams;
her mother, Alberta Spencer of
Kings Mountain; stepfather,
Lovell Spencer of Kings Moun
tain; two daughters. Miss Nicole
Williams and Miss Chrystal
Williams, both of the home; two
brothers, Walter Floyd of Kings
Mountain and Marcus Floyd of
Ft. McClellan, Ala.; and two
sisters, Karen Floyd and Donna
Floyd, both of Kings Mountain.
She wa a member of Mt. Zion
Baptist Church and the Young
Adult Missionary Department.
\(C"
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TOM FRANKS
JOHN CISSEU
Franks, Cissell
DSA Nominees
Tom Franks and John Cissell
are the nominees for the 1982
Kings Mountain Jaycees Young
Man of the Year Award.
The Jaycees will sponsor their
third annual Distinguished Ser
vice Award Banquet on January
9 at the Holiday Inn, at which
time the DSA Award and a
number of other awards will be
given.
The DSA award is given each
year to a young man of Jaycee
age (18 to 36) who has made
outstanding contributions to his
community and state.
Franks has been actively in
volved in community activities
since moving to Kings Mountain
several years ago. He has served
on the Board of Directors of the
Cleveland County Red Cross
and the Kings Mountain
Jaycees, has been involved in the
Kings Mountain Medical Ex
plorers, the Kings Mountain Lit
tle Theatre, and in youth ac
tivities at Kings Mountain High
School, where he is an athletic
trainer, and at Temple Baptist
Church, where he is a youth
counselor. He is employed at
Kings Mountain Hospital as the
Chief Physical Therapist.
Cissell has been a U.S. park
ranger for 10 years with posi
tions at Abraham Lincoln’s Bir
thplace, Mammoth Cave Na
tional Park and Kings Mountain
National Military Park. He has
Turn To Pago 4-A
Mrs. Edie Blair Dies Sunday At Home
Mrs. Edith (Edie) Martin
Blair, 39, of 609 Crescent Circle,
died at 8:40 p.m. Sunday at her
home after several months il
lness.
She was president of Blair and
Associates Inc. of Kings Moun
tain and a former teacher, and
the wife of Kings Mountain den
tist Charles Blair.
A native of Abbeyville, S.C.,
she was the daugher of Mrs.
Myrtle Broadwell Martin of
Calhoun Falls, S.C., and the late
William T. Martin.
She was a member of Boyce
Memorial A.R.P. Church, where
she was the director of the
Children’s Choir. She was an
honor graduate of Erskine Col
lege, where she received her BA.
in music, and she later attended
UNC-Chapel Hill, where she
received her M.S. in speech
pathology.
MRS. EDIE BLAIR
She taught music at Norfolk,
Va., and Durham County,
North Carolina, and taught
speech pathology in Gaston
County.
She is survived by her mother,
Mrs. Myrtle Broadwell Manin
of Calhoun Falls, S.C.; her hus
band, Dr. Charles W. Blair of
Kings Mountain; one son.
Mason Andrew Blair of the
home; one daughter, Janet
Elizabeth Blair of the home; one
brother, W.T. Martin Jr. of
Seneca, S.C.; and two sisters,
Mrs. Jane Hall of Columbia,
S.C., and Mrs. Dianna Kilgore of
Calhoun Falls, S.C.
Memorial services were con
ducted at 3 p.m. Tuesday at
Boyce Memorial A.R.P. Church
by the Rev. William Tyson.
Burial was in Mountain Rest
Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials
may be made to the Boyce
Memorial A.R.P. Church
building fund, or to the Blair
Scholarship Fund at Erskine
College in Due West, S.C.