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www.KMinsure.com Volume 129 • Issue 28
It’s A Small World
Dutch visitors Leo Smister, left, and Lily Smister, right, enjoyed visiting Nell and Ken Randall and meeting World War II veteran George Melton, center. They are pictured at Bethlehem Baptist Church on a recent Sunday. Photo by ANNA HUGHES
Renewing Friendships When Leo Smisters, 72, was 12 months old Pfc. George Melton, 92, was with the 35th Infantry Division that liberated his hometown in The Netherlands. Leo and Lily Smisters returned to The Netherlands Saturday after a month’s visit with Nell and Ken Randall and with Melton, the World War II veteran who now has close ties with the Dutch visitors. Cpl. Leo Smisters was in the Dutch Army 18 months and afterwards served six years in the Reserves. Leo and his wife place flowers on graves of Amer-
ican soldiers in The Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, the only military cemetery in The Netherlands which covers 65.5 acres and includes a tall memorial tower and a Court of Honor with its pool reflecting the tower. Within the tower is a chapel and beyond the tower is a burial area divided into 16 plots where rest 8,301 of our military dead. Smisters said that since 1945 members of his local community have adopted the grave sites of our fallen. They take flowers and research the life of a the service member See FRIENDSHIPS, Page 7
Milestone celebration at Bethlehem Church
Bethlehem Baptist Church will celebrate a milestone – 175 years – Saturday and Sunday. The events start Saturday at 3 p.m. and continue until 7 p.m. at the fellowship center with a live band, games for the children and hamburgers and hotdogs. Rev. Sam Murphy, a
former pastor, will preach at the 10 a.m. worship hour followed by an anniversary banquet at 11 a.m. at which more than 200 people are expected to attend, including former pastors. Bethlehem Baptist Church has a long and rich history rooted in tradition. The church began as a community church in 1842 and some of the families who now live in the community are ancestors of those early worshipers and are active church members and leaders in the church. Rev. Steve Taylor became pastor in 2008.
the arrest and conviction of vandals who damaged bathrooms at the YMCA playground extensively and broke into the Pilot Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant doing damage also to the yard.
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Candidate Kathy Falls will still file for re-election Kathy Falls, who has served eight years on the Cleveland County Board of Education, is seeking KATHY FALLS reelection in November. But a last-minute vote in the N. C. legislature last Thursday converted nine boards of election in counties across the state, including Cleveland, from non-partisan to partisan
Ellison Plant dedication Friday City officials and the Kings Mountain Water Resources Department will show off the improvements to the T. J. Ellison Water Treatment Plant Friday from 11 a.n.-1 p.m. The upgrade to the TJ Ellison Water Treatment Plant included both process and facility improvements designed to increase the plant capacity from 8 MGD to 12 MGD. The process improvements included modifications and upgrades to the flash mix, flocculation, sedimentation, and filter systems increasing the capacity and improving the treatment capabilities of the systems. In addition, new chemical feed facilities were provided for the entire treatment process. Improvements were made to the sludge handling system to improve the efficiency of operation. The finished water pump station was completely replaced increasing the capacity and improving the efficiency. Finally, on the process side, new SCADA monitoring systems were installed to provide better control of the operating system. Facility improvements included modifications and improvements to the existing operations building that had been in service since the 1960s. The plant is named in honor of the late city councilman T. J. (Tommy) Ellison.
City Police offer reward City police are offering a $200 reward for information leading to
kmherald.com • 704-739-7496
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Contact Chief Jerry Tessneer at the Kings Mountain Police Department, 704-734-0444. The vandalism happened during the weekend.
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contests which means that a candidate’s political affiliation is disclosed on the ballot. In spite of all the confusion over the past week, the Kings Mountain woman says she will still run for reelection to the school board. Falls is registered as unaffiliated along with over 16,000 other voters in the state which the new bill may affect. And to add to her situation, the upcoming school board election is in November and the change to a partisan race requires an
unaffiliated candidate to obtain four percent, or just over 2,500 signatures of registered voters in the county and that petition must have been filed by June 30, giving her less than 24 hours to collect the necessary signatures. To declare a political party must be done 90 days before candidate filing opens. Candidate filing opened Friday. Speaker of the House Tim Moore (R), who represents Cleveland County and is from Kings Mountain, said the bill was not intended to deny Falls, or any
other unaffiliated person in Cleveland County the ability to run for school board. “It was just an oversight,’’ he said. Moore says the situation can be resolved by the state board of elections taking a different interpretation of the new law. Moore said the situation that Falls finds herself in now is a symptom of what happens at the end of every legislative session, when lawmakers try to pass as many last-minute bills as they can and conclude their business of the year. See FALLS, Page 7
Candidate filing opened Friday Candidate filing opened Friday at 12 noon for the November elecTOMMY tion at the HAWKINS Cleveland County Board of Elections and 12 candidates threw their hats in the ring. A 13th candidate filed Monday. The elections office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. and closes on July 21. Ward 3 city councilman
Tommy Hawkins filed for another term as K i n g s Mountain councilDANNY LEE man and BLANTON School b o a r d member Danny Lee Blanton of Shelby filed for re-election to the board of education. Robert Paul Queen of Shelby also filed for a seat on the county board of education where four seats are up for grabs. Roy Lee Dyer of Grover
filed on Monday for a seat on Grover Town council. Donald Oscar Melton of Casar, Amy Elliott Bridges of Shelby and John Zachary Taylor of Cherryville (Moss Lake) filed for seats on the Cleveland County Water Board. Elections board officials said the first two days of filing went smoothly. In Kings Mountain, the seats of three city councilmen are up for grabs. They include Ward 2 councilman and mayor pro tem Mike Butler, Ward 3 councilman Tommy Hawkins and at large councilman Curtis Pressley.
Sharing the lessons of history By Robert Inman As we get ready for the final weekend of our fourth season of “Liberty Mountain: The Revolutionary Drama” INMAN at the Joy Performance Center in Kings Mountain, I wanted to share some of the responses from our audiences this year. We’ve enjoyed a substantial increase in attendance overall, and the audiences have
Patriot leaders Isaac Shelby ( Christian Underwood) and John Sevier ( Nick Howell) plot strategy for the Battle of Kings Mountain.
increased in size as we’ve gone through the season. Director Caleb Sigmon and I enjoy meeting folks who
come to see our play and hearing what they have to say about our production. See HISTORY, Page 7
One weekend left to see drama Four performances remain of the Revolutionary War drama, “Liberty Mountain.’’ Friday and Saturday, July 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday matinee at 3 p.m. and Sunday matinee at 3 p.m. are the last dates to see the drama this season at the Joy Theatre. Box office opens Wednesday and Thursday from 5-7 p.m. and one hour before curtain on performance dates. Each performance is preceded by a special musical
performance by the cast. This entertainment begins at 20 minutes before show time. Purchase tickets at
www.LibertyMountaindram.com or call the box office 704-730-9408 to reserve tickets.
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