TUeSDIV’S
KIMG^ MOUnTWn
VOL. 88 NO. 79
OCTOBER 4, 1977
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Bypass Status
In Good Shape
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What l8 the statue of the
proposed US 74 Bypass?
According to Ken Mauney,
chief division engineer for N. C.
Department of Transportation at
Shelby, 105 Individual
homeovmers on the right-of-way
have been compensated and
there are 16 more to go.
Mauney, speaking In a recent
district meeting In Kings
Mountain, said all right-of-way
acquisitions aii expected to be
completed by June 1078.
"Usually a project of this
nature does not get a two-year
period to complete," Mauney
said, "but there were so many
people Involved DOT had no
choice.”
There Is a total of 121 homes
affected In the right-of-way from
Bethware west of Kings
Mountain to US 74 east of the
city. The bypass runs north of
me city.
Another unusual aspect to this
project Is the ccmtractlng of a
commercial firm for demolition
of the homes acquired on the
right-of-way. McSwaln Grading
of Shelby received the contract
and, according to KM City
Engineer A1 Moretz, "McSwaln
Is on the Job at last removing the
old homes."
Mauney commented that along
the state’s right-of-way where
homes have been removed,
"DOT has the responsibility of
keeping up the property. If
weeds and debris are beginning
to fill the area, then neighboring
residents should contact our
department In Shelby and we
wlU see that the weeds and
debris are removed.”
Mauney said he feels that since
the project Is going well, that
priorities may be shifted In
Raleigh In order to continue the
bypass through to completion.
He said the bypass will probably
cost "a couple of million bucks
per mile" once the construction
gets underway.
The bypass roadbed, ac
cording to Mauney, will be below
the Intersecting Kings Mountain
streets. Bridges over the bypass
are planned as connectors tor the
Intersecting KM streets.
A companion project to the
bypass, according to Mauney,
will be construction of an In
terchange on the east side of the
city.
I • s.
District 2 Meeting
Tonight At Eastside
I ' . . 4 .4
REST STOP — Two members of the Over
mountain March take a rest stop during the ISO
mile trek from Sycamore Shoals, Termessee to
Kings Mountain National Military Park. Dressed
In authentic costumes, such as this man and
woman, the marchers are scheduled to arrive at
^4
Kings Mountain about 3 p. m. Frl., Oct. 7 to
celebrate the 197th anniversary of the
Revolutionary War battle. The Overmountsdn
Trail follows the exact route 1,000 Americans took
to meet and defeat MaJ. Patrick Ferguson on Oct.
7, 1780.
Tonight the local government
"One-on-One” meeting Jumps
back to district two.
The meeting Is scheduled for
7:30 p. m. In Eastside Baptist
Church fellowship hall.
Commissioner Humes Houston
and Mayor John Moss will co
host the meeting. Houston had to
pass when his district meeting
was originally scheduled
because his wife was scheduled
for surgery.
All district two citizens are
urged to attend tonight’s
meeting, but as always citizens
from all over the city are
welcome to attend also.
Hearing Solves No Problems
County Commissioner Josh
Hlnnant of Kings Mountain said
Monday’s public hearing of the
board and members of the
rescue squads from across the
county brought no solution to the
growing problem of how to pay
tor ambulance service.
Although only two units. Kings
Mountain Rescue and Shelby
Rescue squads. In the county
chose the transport fee and
county subsidy method. It
becomes evident In Monday’s
hearing that Bolling Springs,
Grover and Upper Cleveland
County rescue units don’t feel It
Is fair for them to continue
operating without county aid.
However, these units restated
their determination to continue
an all volunteer operation.
“All we could do Monday was
explain again the county’s
^
situation to the rescue
representatives,” Hlnnant said.
"From a tax standpoint the
county cannot assist the units
without a fee being charged. Our
only alternative Is to tax the
public to pay tor the service.”
Hnnant said perhaps a fairer
way of handling the situation Is
to charge ”a district tax,” where
residents living In the rescue
district be taxed only. The same
method Is used In fire districts.
"The most palltable way to
solve this problem,’’ Hlnnant
said, "Is tor all the units to
operate on a volunteer basis as
they have done In the past. This
method, I think, would be much
more satisfactory to the county
residents than an additional tax
to pay tor the service.”
Obviously this method can no
longer work, at least as far as
Shelby and Kings Mountain
Rescue squads are concerned. A
representative from Shelby said
as much In Monday’s public
hearing. ’That unit does not have
the volunteer qualified man
power to handle the ambulance
service during the day. There
were no representatives at
Monday’s meeting from KM
Rescue Squad, according to
Hlnnant.
According to state law the
county commissioners have
fulfilled two steps of the
requirements toward adopting
an ordinance regulating am
bulance service In the county.
The final step would be the or
dinance adoption.
If such an ordinance were to be
passed then the county would
have the power to establlah
rescue districts, designate which
unit would serve each district,
how many ambulances each unit
would operate, set down
guidelines for Insurance and
operations for each unit and set a
fee or rate schedule for each unit
to charge the public. The or
dinance would also give the
county the power to refuse a
franchise to any or sdl units now
operating In the county.
However, Commissioner
Hlnnant said, "At present the
board of county commissioners
Is not considering such a move.
We have not even discussed the
matter. This Is all so new to us
that we are taking It one step at a
time.”
Hlnnant said that many
"citizens are under the Im
pression the county Is trying to
take over the rescue squads.
This Is not true. We don’t want to
get Into the ambulance business.
We have been trying our best to
get out of It.”
The situation now facing the
commissioners grew out of the
formation of a second
emergency service In Kings
Mountain. Former members of
Kings Mountain Rescue Squad,
dissatisfied with the fee
schedule, banded together
several weeks ago and applied
for a charter to form Kings
Mountain Emergency Services,
Inc. The purpose of this group
stated In public meetings. Is to
operate an emergency service on
an all volunteer basis and rely on
public donations to exist.
However, the county com
mlasloners have already signed
contracts with both Kings
Mountain cmd Shelby Rescue
squads to bill patients
15<
—42^ Hartsoe, Burns Are Our Winners
Tuesday Through Thursday:
Fair Today
And Wednesday
Becoming Partly
Cloudy Thursday.
Cool Early
In The Period
With Highs
In The 60s And 70s.
Do You Uke
Pancakes?
Check KM Rotary
Club Page Ad
In Today’s
Mirror-Herald
V
Mrs. Bertie Hartsoe of Kings
Mountain turned In a perfect
card to wtn the 150 first place In
last week’s Mirror-Herald
football contest.
Mrs. Hartsoe correctly picked
the winner In 10 area hl^ school
snd college games, and also hit
the tie-breaker of 44 points right
on the nose. The Us-breaker
gams was- the N. C. Stats-
Mazyland game, won by State M-
90.
Second place went to CharUe
Bums of Kings Mountain, who
also picked all 10 winners and
mlassd the tle-brsaker by only
one point. He predicted 48.
Twenty-six other guessperts
also turned In perfect cards but
weren’t close enough to the tie
breaker to grab a share of the
dough.
TTie games which fooled the
biggest majority of the con
testants were State-Maryland,
North Carollna-’Texas Tech and
South Carolina-East Oarollna.
All three were decided by four
points or less.
How Weil Do
You Know Your
Neighbor?
Would The Life
He’s Lived,
Or His Hobby
Make An
Interesting
Feature?
What About
Yourself?
Let’s Share
The Story With
Our Readers.
CaM
739-7496
Contestants are reminded to
turn In their entries by 13 noon
Friday, and to enter Just one
time. Over 40 entries were
disqualified last week, some
because they were received too
late and others because there
was more than one entry per
person or family.
This week’s contest Is Inside
today’s Mlrror-Hersild. Road the
rules carefully, pick the teams
you think will win this Friday
and Saturday and get a chunk of
that dough.