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Volume 127
Issue 50
kmherald.com
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
75 CENTS
Neisler looks ahead, talks of teamwork DAVE BLANTON dave.kmherald@gmail.com
Brison Barber picks the Bentley banjo he built as a senior project. He hopes his passion for picking will lead to a promising career. Photo by LIB STEWART
Brison’s passion banjo picking ELIZABETH STEWART lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Banjo picking is 17-year-old Brison Barber’s passion. The Kings Mountain High School senior built his own banjo as his senior project and along with picking pro Arnold Clayton fashioned a dream of an instrument which may give him high marks at school and lead
to greater things in his future. His story could have been different. His parents, Kevin and Rhonda Barber and doting grandma Theresa Barber call him a miracle. He survived a horrible wreck March 17 that left him with a broken neck and back, ruptured spleen and facial injuries. “I was on Lavender See BRISON’S, Page 8A
The excitement was evident in Scott Neisler’s voice as he looked ahead to his swearing in as the city’s new mayor Tuesday evening. For the former textiles executive it is a return to a job he held twice in the middle and late nineties, but in the past month Neisler has been busy preparing for the role as if he’s brand new to it. Last week he attended a seminar aimed at new may-
ors in the Piedmont region, which inc l u d e d rubbing shoulders with then Charlotte’s Scott Neisler mayor-elect Jennifer Roberts. “I enjoyed it,” Neisler said. “I was interested to see what had changed in the laws, such as those regarding public meetings and the like.”
He’s also seeing modern approaches to economic development and recruitment. “I want to hit the ground running and not miss a step,” he said over lunch last week downtown. “I’m preparing for as many elements of the job as I can right now.” Neisler also continues to sound a collegial theme when talking about his role as mayor and how he’d like to see the City Council work together. “My initiative is get everyone communicating,” he
said. “I want everyone to feel they’re part of the process.” To that end, he said he’d like to see more items on consent agendas broken out and thoroughly discussed. “When we make a big purchase like a $250,000 (piece of heavy equipment), I want the citizens to understand there’s a good reason for making that purchase, that it’s justified in the sense that it’s an investment that will pay off in the long run.” See NEISLER, Page 8A
School board members sworn Three incumbent school board members and two new members took the oaths of office in a swearing-in ceremony at Monday night's school board meeting at the Cleveland County School's Central Services building in Shelby. Jo Boggs and Jeff Jones were sworn in as new members along with incumbents Richard Hooker Jr., Shearra
Miller and Roger Harris In November’s elections, Boggs and Jones won more votes than incumbent Jerry Hoyle. Dr. Jack Hamrick, whose seat was up for re-election, did not run. In other business at Monday’s meeting, the panel voted to return Phillip Glover and Miller to the posts of chair and vice-chair, respectively. Newcomer Boggs and Harris both
received nominations for the chair job. Miller was the sole nomination for vice-chair. The board also picked Hooker to serve on the N.C. School Board Association’s legislative committee, a group of educators and elected officials from around the state that aims to help shape education policy and laws in North Carolina.
Jo Boggs (left) is sworn in as one of two new members to the Cleveland County Board of Education on Monday. She is pictured with her husband Gary Boggs and daughter Laura Tharrington. Jeff Jones (right) is sworn in the same ceremony at Cleveland County School’s Central Services building. He is joined by his wife Susan. Photo by DAVE BLANTON
Drop-in Dec. 21 to honor Thornburg
Christmas luminaries will shine at Mountain Rest Cemetery on Christmas Eve.
Luminaries will shine on Christmas Eve Luminaries will glow Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, from 5:30 p.m.-11 p.m. at city-owned Mountain Rest Cemetery.
City workers will set up battery-operated candles in white milk jugs on Wednesday, Dec. 23. No volunteers will be required. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are holidays for city employees. The cemetery will close at the regular time on Wednesday. “We will be directing See LUMINARIES, Page 8A
Monty Thornburg Monty Thornburg, Patrick Senior Center Executive Director, will be honored at a retirement party hosted by the City of Kings Mountain Monday, Dec. 21, from 10 a.m.- 12:30 at the Center. Friends are invited to join senior center participants for the drop-in honoring the retiring director. Remarks will be offered at 12:30. The public is invited.
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County resolution honors Murphrey County commissioners honored Mayor Rick Murphrey Tuesday night in a resolution presented by commission chairman Jason Falls. At the time the resolution was presented Murphrey was presiding at city hall on his last day as mayor. He had served 21 years, six as council member and 15 as mayor. “The Cleveland County Board of Commissioners has enjoyed an exceedingly positive relationship with the Kings Mountain City Council during Mayor Murphrey's time in office, Cleveland County See MURPHREY, Page 8A
Lucky Lawson wins $1 million lotto ticket
Harvey Lawson and his fiancée Pam Jarrell celebrating the win with a big check last week in Raleigh. A routine trip to the gas station last Thursday resulted in $1 million win for a Kings Mountain couple. Harvey Lawson, a superintendent at the weaving and manufacturing company STI, bought a $10 “Millionaire 7s” ticket at the Silver Express on E. King Street around lunch-
time that day. He didn’t scratch off the big winner until returning to work, where he got what was probably one of the biggest surprises of his life. At the moment he saw that he had won a million bucks, Lawson said he “almost fell See LUCKY LAWSON, Page 8A
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