INSIDE...
SPORTS - 11
Obituaries .......................... 2 Police Log .......................... 7 Lifestyles ........................... 6
■ Ladies clinch
SMAC Championship See pages 8 & 9
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Volume 128 • Issue 18
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Mega drive-in theatre City escapes major damages grand opening Thursday The new $500,000 Hound's Mega drive-in theater, the newest drive-in built since 2004 in the nation, will be up and running tonight (Wednesday) for a free showing on a huge 50x100 foot screen of the popular “Forrest Gump” at Hound's Campground. Ribbon-cutting by the Cleveland Chamber and city officials will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday and grand opening and a double feature Thursday opening day with gates opening at 5 p.m. and the movie starting about 8:45 p.m.. For Preston Brown, 46, the opening of the drive-in is a dream come true and a labor of love, a project he started four years ago as drive-ins started shutting down across the country due to the high cost associated with switching from film to digital projectors. The drive-in features
The powerful storm Sunday night that put some communities in the county in the dark for more than 15 hours and took down trees did little damage in Kings Mountain. Nick Hendricks, Energy Services Director and Assistant City Manager, said the city's electric division standby crew was called out to Gantt Street where a tree had fallen into electric lines. While on the call they received another call from Chesterfield Apartments for a power outage. Once they were clear on the Gantt
a $120,000 high-definition digital projector with customized lens and extremely high powered bulb. The screen is so huge that
See CITY ESCAPES, Page 10
KATE KERR mittee that decides the top teaching award from five candidates, three of whom are from Kings Mountain. Kerr, 34, says that each See TEACHER, Page 10
Brown, as projectionist, will be 'throwing' the movie from the projector to the screen from inside a new See DRIVE-IN, Page 10
City Council sets Town Hall meeting Kings Mountain City Council and Mayor Scott Neisler will hold a special Town Hall meeting on Thursday, May 19, at 6 p.m. at the H. Lawrence Patrick Senior Life & Conference Center. The meeting is designed to get citizen comments, concerns and input and everyone is welcome. “Everyone is encouraged to attend,'' said the mayor.
Cowboy Pastor to speak The day his wife left him was the “best day and the worst day of his life,” Jason Taylor said. He was only 28 and in the feed and cattle business and had already gone broke three times and was strung out on methamphetamines. 'I had given my life to
Marilyn Sellers. I want to thank our staff for all that they do in keeping our infrastructure in top notch shape.” Hendricks said “It is evidence of the support staff receives from the manager, mayor and council for recognizing the importance of keeping our infrastructure in the best possible working conditions. It is that support that allows us to keep our system reliable. Our tree trimming program along with our equipment and inspection programs are what
Preston Brown is proud of the 50x100 foot movie screen that will give patrons high visibility of the movies to be shown at the new Hound's Drive-In on S. Battleground Avenue. Brown's investment in the community's first drive-in is estimated at half a million dollars. Photo submitted by Preston Brown
Middle School teacher finalist for top award Kate Kerr, who teaches 115 Eighth graders in four Science classes five days a week, wouldn't trade the experience for anything. KM Middle School's Teacher of the Year and a finalist for Cleveland County Teacher 2016. has been teaching two years at KM Middle and came to Kings Mountain from Crestdale Middle in Charlotte where she taught 7th grade math from 2007-14. “I do what I do because I believe that education is one of life's greatest privileges and something to be truly valued,'' she said in her philosophy of teaching she presented to a judging com-
Street call, the crew reported to Chesterfield and found that a switch had blown a fuse, the fuse was replaced and the power restored. Hendricks said the city's new AMI “Smart Meter” system indicated an outage at 7:44 p.m. and the restoration at 10:05 p.m. A total of 51 meters were out during this time. “Again the City of Kings Mountain has been fortunate that we have been spared inconvenience and damage during yet another powerful storm,'' said City Manager
Christ at 16 but was never part of the church. I had put God on the shelf,'' T a y l o r JASON TAYLOR said. He needed something to get his attention and it was the sight of his wife, whom he had married in high school, walking out the door with their daughter in hand.
When his wife called to check on him four hours and 32 minutes later Taylor asked, ''what took you so long?” She came back and with God's help they put their life together again. The cowboy pastor of Bar None Interdenominational Church in Tatum, Texas since March 2008 will have more stories to tell at the annual Mayor's breakfast Thursday at 8 a.m. at Family Worship Center, See COWBOY, Page 10
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This large, fallen tree barely missed a house on Yarbro Road in the Bethlehem Community Sunday night as a damaging storm swept through the southern end of the county.
KM woman runs in Boston Marathon Running in the Boston Marathon had always been a dream of Katie Burgess, 30, and it wasn't a dream when she finished the 26.2 mile course recently in 3 hours, 25 minutes and 22 seconds. “After having my little boy in March 2015 I decided I wanted to qualify and run,'' she said Her mother, Karla Bennett, was waiting at the finish line and her husband, Jason and their daughter, Charley, 4, were waiting at a designated location to meet her after the race because it was too crowded at the finish line. One-year-old son, Bennett, had remained at home with family. “It was my first Boston Marathon and my 6th marathon overall,'' said the Burns Middle School PE teacher who will teach next year at Kings Mountain Intermediate School. Burgess trained for four months and qualified at Lehigh Valley Marathon in Al-
Katie Burgess of Kings Mountain ran in the 2016 Boston Marathon, the biggie of marathons, and has qualified for the 2017 event. lentown, PA in September 2015 with a qualifying time of 3 hours, 29 minutes and
44 seconds. Qualifying time for her age group is 3:35:00 See KM WOMAN, Page 10
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