wUl
tar In
lurch
Old Southern RR Depot
Activity Hub In Making
Hm old Southern depot ain’t what
aha uaad to be...
Once the depot uaad to he a buay
epot with local flrma ahlpplnc their
praducta all over the country and
racelvlnc raw matertala and other
to the waltlnc n
e to lounge o
arrived.
Ihan for awhile the depot atood
enqity. No one waa ahlpplng or
receiving or buying tlcketa to ride
the train.
Over the yean wlnoa found the
abandoned baggage area perfect to
get In out of the weather and nip
from the bottlee In brown paper
baga.
But all of that haa changed now.
‘The depot will once again become
a Uvely epot with kitchen faeUltlea
and meeting rooma and a lounge
area with a huge brick and atone
fireplace.
The program waa created by the
city ualng Community Development
block grant funde. An eight-foot
property on three aldea. Thelnteiior
la being renovated for community
uae. On the outalde a platform la
being erected to help reatora the
depot back to Ita original atate.
Some of the rooma Inalde will be
uaed for arte and crafta workahopa
and diaplay arena and othera wlU be
uaed for public aervlce ofllcea.
A1 Iforeti, dty engineer-planner,
aald "One man In the dty, Poat-
maater Chariaa Alexander, la in-
tereated In creating a acale model of
the depot and the town aa It waa In
the early daya and putting the model
on diaplay In the depot.
“Hm Idea we've been foUowlng U
to maintain the look of the depot
throughout," ICoraU aald. "The
building, we’ve found, la very eturdy
and weather^tlght, ao we plan to
leave the interior celling aa It la. In
from the elevated floor to the Ut-
Another idea la to have open air
farmer’a marketa adjacent to the
depot where local and area tarmara
may diaplay and aell tholr
homegrown garden produce.
the Idea of bringing In an old
railroad dining ear on the q>ur track
and creating a reataurant haa alao
bean dlacuaaed.
the end of the project la not too
many montha away, according to
McmU "and than people wOl aee the
old depot ain’t what aha uaed to be.’’
‘raga7£gs5£3tea
THE THURSDAY EDITION
Vinninff Newspaper kiriG9 NOUHTNh
MIRROR-HCRkLD
15‘
P >/
m
1
VOL. 87 NO. a
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NOBTH CAROLINA N
1HUB8DAT, DECEMBER Id, IWd
Special Meeting Planned
Gas Kate Action Delayed
the city oommlaalon Monday
night poat^ned, until after a called
ccnferenca with the ctty’a gaa
conaultant action on revamping of
the natural gae rate atiucture.
Receaalng briefly after letter waa
read by City Clerk Joe H. McDantol
1 from Engineer William D. Edwarda,
the alx-membt«> board could not
come to a declalon on the matter,
they eald, without more eon-
aultatlon. Mayor John MOee aald he
would call another meeting with
Edwarda prior to Jan. 1., on motion
of Comm. Jamea Chlldere, aeconded
by Comm. Norman King-
Under the Edwarda propoaal
under atudy by the board, February
1,1977 gaa bUla to all uaere of gaa,
excepting realdentlal, would reflect
a rate Increaaa of 33 centa per MCF.
Southeaatern Oonaultlng Englneera
_ do not recommend Ineraaae In the
' realdentlal rataa.
Edwarda wrote that "the city
ahould Immediately Increaae their
reaala rate by at laaat $180,000 per
year baaed on the 1970-76 volume
laid.’’
The clty’e ratea. If the now
propoeala are accepted, would place
tti ooata about S.4pereent lower than
that of Duke Power.
Southeaatern aubmltted the report
of Ita englneera at the Nov. 31
meeting of the board. The itudy waa
aubmltted by Ray Cohn, a reglatered
engineer, who noted that the
recommendaUaui are baaed on the
need for a change In the city rate
itructure due to the Increaaee in
power coata over the pact year. The
propooala aet the rata level aa low ae
poaolble to etUl be In line with Duke
Power ratea, *he aald.
On Dec. lTS*n and Jan. 1,1977 the
coata of Tranaco’e 0-3 gaa Incraaaed
to $1,097 per MCF, on Increaae of
16.7 cente per MCF or 17.9 percent.
Baaed on gaa purehaaee for the 13
montha period ending Oct. 81, 1076,
of 901,968 MCF the increaae In gaa
Santa Cominff
To Grover VFD
Santa Claua will come to Orover
Saturday compUmenta of the Orover
Volunteer Fire Department.
The Jolly ole man from the North
Pole will aet up ehop at U a.m. In the
VFD building and take Santa
requeata from young and old alike
until 8 p.m.
Auxiliary to the Fire Department
will offer variety of baked gooda.
Including homemade cakea, plee and
goodlea for aale to the public. All
proceeda are earmarked for fire
fighting equipment tor the Fire
Department.
coot to the city would be $160,638,
eald Edwarda.
He pointed out that the purchaoe
coat of gaa purchaaed under
TVanaco’a 0-3 rate waa $0.98 per
MCF at the time the City of Klnga
Mountain made their lataat rate
Increaae (affective Mar. 1, 1676).
Shica that time there have been five
rate Increaae a and two rate
reductlane. The clty’e purchaae coat
In October waa $.986.
During the period firom March 1,
1976 through Oct 81, 1976, the city
purchaaed 508,948 MCF at a coat of
$487,486 or about $16,000 above the
projected coat at the time of the
March 1, 1976 increaae became
effective.
Edwarda pointed out that during
thle period only 86,416 MCF or 11.0
percent waa uaed by domeatlc
cuBtomera and that tor the 13 montha
ending Oct. 81, 1970, the domeatlc
ciMtomere uaed only 146,668 UCF or
16.16 percent of the total aalea and
paid an average at $1.8886 per MCF.
The North Carolina UtlUtlea
Commleelon ruling made Dec. 8,
1076 excluding realdentlal cuatomere
participating In the additional coat
of emergency gaa la Juet a foretaete
of the nationwide policy of paaaing
the utility Increaaee, he aald, "on
(Pleaee Tam To Page 3A)
STONE-FACE FDtEPLAOE - BUI MeM
building a huge brick and etoae-face firepla
oU Southern Depot. The area wU be uaed 1
renovation program le complete. UahigOiMi
the city le creating another o
‘talidng the atmoapbeK of a railroad depot
For City Employes *
A Little Extra In Envelope
All City employee were voted a
ChrUtmaa bonue Monday night and
will receive a long weekend holiday
by action of the city board of com-
n^aalanera.
itnd. If D.C. Payeeur, Jr.’e
auggeetlon la followed, the city
commlaelonera will get a "bonue,"
too.
Mr. Payaeur made the motion
from hie aeat In the audience that the
ccmmlaalcnera be given a ’’bonue’’
becauee of "their outatandlng
aervlce thle year and , beeldea.
they’re dty employee, too.’’
Hie remarka came after the
commlaelonera had voted
unanlmouoly to give all city em
ployes a bonua. Thoee employes
with at least a year aervlce to the
city wUl receive one week’e pay, tor
employee with leas than one year
service the pay will be pro-rated.
dty offices will be dosed on
Friday, Dec. 34, and on Monday,
Dec. 37 for the Christmas holidays.
New Year’s holiday will be observed
on Frl., Dec. 81.
Mayor John Moss agreed with Mr.
Payeeur, who spoke out again at the
end of the meeting, that the
"cmnmlaaloners are Indeed doing an
outstanding Job.’’ He promised he
would confer with the treasurer who
draws the checks.
If the CouneU receives a bonus at
the city’s Christmas party thla week.
It may be a first time In recent
history, but Santa Claua Is around
the comer, ao who knows If bonuaes
wlU be In their Chrlatmaa stockings.
In Breaking And Entering Catagory
Oty Crime Rate Down 61 Percent
‘Christ Is Bom’ Cantata
At First Presbyterian
"Chrlot Is Bom," a Chrlatmaa
Cantata by John W. Petersen and hla
newest work, wlU be sung by the 80-
vdce Choir of First Presbyterlsm
Church Sunday morning at the 11
o’clock worship hour.
Die program la under the dlrec-
tkm of Mra. Darrell Austin, organist
and choir director.
Petersen cantatas. Featured edolst
will be Kathy Rhea Bumgardner.
Die community Is Invited to Join
the Presbyterian congregation In the
qMctal Joy Gift service which will
feature the children of the church aa
they present "Mite Boxes” of
pennies for Mhilstera Annuity Fund
for retired mlnlaters.
J. Vic Smith will serve aa narrator
Kings Mountain’s crime rate has
dropped a phenomenal 61 percent In
the area of breaking and entering
offenses since COPE waa organised
abc months ago.
Dieae statlstlca were revealed by
Chief of Police Earl Lloyd Friday
night at the COPE Christmas party
at the Community Center.
Die Chief said that In most eases
good results were from direct efforts
by this police assistance team In the
area of Operation IdentUlcotlon,
Involving the community In
Operation Community Olme Watch
with oltlaans on patrol burning up
numbers of ausplelous Individuals
and alerting law enforcement.
"R’s obvious from these reports
that criminals are staying out of
Kings Mountain," said the Chief,
who noted that every day a call
comes through the CB Boy Station at
KMPD from on sdert CB’er with
COPE.
Chief Lloyd aald ttie recovery rate
on properties stolen Is only five
percent. He aald that In 1876
property loss to KM cltlsena from
theft was a whopping $96,000.
“We dMi’t know what the real
answer la but we want to eliminate
to recover what’s stolen. A victim
never really gets back everything he
has lost when you count the time In
court he must spend, etc.," said the
Chief.
Chief Lloyd, In heaping praise on
COPE, said that Police Chiefs in
three Bhistem N.C. departments
were contacting COPE officers
about how they can organise and
"get pe<q>le involved."
COPE In Kings Mountain was
organised by Chief Lloyd and KMPD
In July. Currently, COPE la laun
ching a program to speed up the
marking of properties of senior
rtUsene and ara In proease of
Builder Asks City
To Annex Property
distributing 60,000 pieces of
literature on home security.
Chief Lloyd called attention to two
new programs In which COPE will
aeUvely lead In 1977: a now
program tor senior cltlsens, offering
Identification cards to those who do
not hold a driver’s Ucenae Iden
tifying number and another security
measure tor merchsuits, giving an
Identification number to each
downtown merchant for a croos-
tnformatlan with police and COPE
volunteers In event of burgiaiiea.
COPE President Boyce TesensOr
said that next month’s program will
feature the showing of the CPR film,
"Pulse of Life" and noted that one
local nurse had already vOluntaered
abc hours duty each week toosalat
with Cardlo Pulmonary
Resuscitation courses to be offered
Dm city commlaslon Monday
night adverUsed for public hearing
request of BUI Stinnett tor an
nexation of 10.(M acres of property In
received Stinnett’s petition for
rsaonlng of contiguous pngMrty
from R-30 to R-6 and referred to the
' In ether actions Monday, the
board:
Adopted resolution clarifying
HUD Project 08C-49, amaU grant
approval tor recreation at Deal
Street Park. The resolution
q^eclflea that the monies will be
used tor recreation uses only.
Authorlaed resolution with the
Ctty of Kings Mountain and Southern
RaUway System for Installation of
open fence In connection with
prevloualy authorised beautification
work In the downtown urban
beautification program. The
baautmcatlon Is In the area of the
railroad tracks, igt the embankment
at overhead bridge on 74.
Executed agreement with W.K.
Dickson and Co., Inc., engineers, for
water Improvements <m York Rd.
m
organisation of vohintaer men and
women "tor UteroUy turning the
crime program around" and tor
their "leadership In the march to
reduce crime."
He said that a eltlaen lending a
hand In emergencies mean the
difference between quick ap
prehension of a criminal and cited a
recent Incident In Los Angelea,
GaUf., where he was attending a
meeting, and Involved dtlaen effort
In helping the Los Angeles PD ap
prehend a bank robber who was
and the bonk robber In custody.
And Chief Uoyd aald that "We
have a model program hare which
many police departments are
looking for."