INSIDE...
SPORTS...................... 7
Obituaries .......................... 2 Police Log .......................... 2 Lifestyles ........................... 3 Opinion .............................. 4
Eagles Among Us page
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Larry Hamrick, Jr.
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Volume 127 • Issue 2 • Wednesday, January 14, 2015
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Local supporters in Raleigh today for House Speaker’s election
KM’s Tim Moore’s rise in politics expected ELIZABETH STEWART lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Kings Mountain attorney and State R e p resentative T i m Moore, 44, first visited t h e N o r t h Rep. Tim Moore C a r olina General Assembly as a teenage page. He returns today as the youngest speaker of the N.C. House in a quarter century, probably the first in recent history in Cleveland County, and in one of three of the state’s most powerful posi-
tions. The North Carolina House and Senate reconvenes in Raleigh today (Wednesday) for the 2015 legislative session. Among the first order of business on the House side will be to formally elect Rep. Tim Moore of the 111th District representing Cleveland County to the Speaker’s post. With Republicans holding a 74-46 majority, the GOP has the votes needed to carry the vote. Moore’s family, including his parents, city councilman Rick Moore and Mrs. Moore, his two sons, Wilson and McRae Moore, Kings Mountain Mayor Rick Murphrey and Mrs. Murphrey, City Manager Marilyn Sellers, and six city councilmen will be among those in the
School calendar, foreign trips OK’d DAVE BLANTON dave.kmherald@gmail.com
The Cleveland County Board of Education met Monday evening to approve two overseas trips by student groups at an area high school and to adopt a school calendar for the 2015-2016 school year, among other items. Due to updates, school employees are now entitled to 11 holidays during the school year. The current 2015-16 calendar only designates 10. That means that additional holiday will
needed to be designated. To that end, school officials had to eliminate a planning day. The school board approved the elimination of Good Friday as a planning day. It becomes an annual leave day. The change also means that Memorial Day will be changed from an annual leave day to a regular holiday. State law mandates that the school calendar must contain 215 days total, including workdays, holidays
gallery observing the proceedings. Kings Mountain supporters will also attend a luncheon with Speaker Moore after the morning legislative session. He succeeds Thom Tillis, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in November and who appointed him as chairman of the prestigious rules committee which he has served as well as chairing the elections and the House select committee on UNC Board of Governors.. Moore’s rise in politics was expected by his father, Ward 5 city commissioner Rick Moore. When Tim was 10 he put up signs for Ronald Reagan. As a youngster he got his taste for politics behind the counter at the former Rick’s Ole Country Store
and at every opportunity offered his opinion in political discussions. He visited the US Congress in high school. Classmates at Kings Mountain High voted him “most ambitious.’’ At 20, shortly after transferring to UNC Chapel Hill, he became speaker of the student Congress. He was elected to the student government at two colleges and interned for a state senator. In 1997 he was elected Cleveland County GOP chairman. He also ran for the UNC Board of Governors and at 26 he became the second-youngest member ever elected. He was elected to the State House of Representatives at 32 in 2002 and has been re-elected seven times. After his nomination for speaker by the Republican
ML King Day events Monday
Caucus, Moore said he was “humbled.” “I’m the same guy I’ve always been,’’ he said. If there is a secret to any success, he added, it is that “I always treat others the way I would want to be treated.’’ Moore returned to Cleveland County in 1995 with a law degree from Oklahoma State University. He joined Flowers, Martin, Moore and Ditz from 1995-2009 in Shelby, opening his own practice on King Street in Kings Mountain in 2009. His office, which he shares with another lawyer and two legal secretaries, is in a former renovated home. He had initially hoped to move his office into the old First Union National Bank building in downtown Kings Mountain but his rise into state politics keeps him busy.
Rep. Moore is known as one of the most effective conservative members of the House, consistently ranked as one of the top supporters of lower taxes, growth, limited government, and individual liberties. He has worked on legislation to help bring new jobs to Cleveland County and to the state, working directly with local small businesses to help preserve and expand jobs for Cleveland County. As speaker, jobs will be a priority. Moore has successfully sponsored several laws designed to make children and families safer. He was primary sponsor of the Jessica Lunsford Law which increased the punishment for sex offenders and imposed monitoring and other See MOORE, Page 8
Maude McCarter, 100 Enjoys laughter, humor ELIZABETH STEWART lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Maude Lee Owens McCarter, 100, credits her long and happy life to laughter and a keen sense of humor. And growing up on a farm with four brothers and two sisters, her love of “fatback” and home-grown vegetables meant there was plenty of food on the table and to feed the livestock even during the Depression years. McCarter, the last surviving sibling of John Cray-
Maude McCarter ton and Rhettie Whisnant Owens, celebrated her century of life on January 3 at See MAUDE, Page 8
See SCHOOL, Page 8
Ride-along with a KM cop
Mother, newborn die in wreck despite heroic efforts Newborn Riley Andrew Williams lived only a few hours after a wreck took the life of his mother, a Kings Mountain woman who was kept alive just long enough to deliver her only child. Two Highway Patrol troopers and a nurse’s aide performed CPR on Rebecca Williams for more than 15 minutes alongside a highway after a wreck last Tuesday morning in hopes that she could deliver a healthy child.
A photography exhibit and breakfast highlight Martin Luther King Day in Kings Mountain Monday. Friday at 5 p.m. is deadline for photographs on the theme “Hope.’’ file photo
Rebecca Williams The 7-pound, 5-ounce boy had a strong heartbeat, according to rescue personnel on the scene. Nevertheless, baby Riley needed to be
Celebrating the life of the slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the city of Kings Mountain and Bynum’s Chapel AME Zion Church have special events planned and the public is invited. The city is sponsoring a photography contest on the theme “Hope” and offering cash prizes to winners in both the adult and student divisions. Friday at 5 p.m. is the deadline to submit your entries on the theme, “Hope” at city hall. See cityofkm.com for more information about the contest. Bynum’s Chapel members will sponsor a breakfast at 8 a.m. Monday at the Bynum Chapel Family Center, See MLK DAY, Page 8
See MOTHER, Page 8
Officer J.L. Dee stands next to KMPD police SUV on Friday. On the force for almost four years, Dee gives us a glimpse of the daily routine of a city patrolman. DAVE BLANTON dave.kmherald@gmail.com
After five years of working in a grocery store, J.L. Dee wasn’t satisfied. He didn’t care for the monotony of stocking shelves and knowing what each day held for him ahead of time.
It was around that time that a friend and co-worker told him that he was going to pursue a career in law enforcement. He was inspired to do the same. Fast forward about five years and we find Dee See RIDE-ALONG, Page 6
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