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The ‘Kings Mountain Herald
EBECCA PISCOPO
rdickinson@kingsmountainherald.com
Green is the “in thing;” the
popular thing businesses,
municipalities, people and
organizations are doing to save
energy costs and the planet. But
now it is also the thing local
parks are doing to become even
more “green,” according to Van
O’Cain, Director of
Membership of Public Relations
for the Electric Cooperatives of
South Carolina.
SC State Park Service received
a donation of 4,300 Cifl
(Compact Fluorescent Light)
bulbs from ECSC which are to
be given to the state’s 47 parks.
“Do the Light Switch” kicked
off July 10, 2008 beside the mess
hall of Camp Cherokee at the
Kings Mountain State Park.
“The lights are brighter and
they last longer. We will see a
dramatic drop in bills,” Park
Ranger Shea Jordan stated.
“Our program was designed
first to save money in the home.
If we're not careful, we'll lose
electricity means,” O’Cain said.
The great outdoors seem to
have salespeople taking home *
ideas endorsed by O’Cain -
campers! :
“Kids get excited and are able
to retain information so they go
home telling their parents how
they can save $30 a month.
Parents listen to their kids,”
O’Cain added.
All attention efforts of Ipods
and cell phone text messages
seemed to lose the wow-curios-
ity battle to ECSC’s cfl bright
lights. O’Cain showed campers
an electronic comparison dis-
play demonstrating the amount
of energy cfls save. A screen
shows that an everyday light
bulb burns 58 watts of energy.
When pressing the button (on
the display) it exhibits four cfl
- bulbs using 53 watts all togeth-
er.
you need. It can go on the out-
side or be used for reading,”
O’Cain said. “Older people
have a problem with the regular
(lower lit) cfl light. A 2,700kW
light is so high that it’s easier to
read by!”
According to O’Cain, every-
day “25 cent” bulbs burn out in
six months to one year. Cfls take
eight to ten years. Each light
costs two or three dollars, but
O’Cain insists the longer lasting
and lower energy saves in the
home bill department. ;
KMSP is the first of the South
Carolina state parks to switch to
cfls.
Brian Reburn, administrator
“There is a cfl for whatever
of all staff members, says that in
the highly spirited Camp
Cherokee, at the park, one of the
four values is Respect for
nature. “The compact of the
light bulbs are better. Campers
bring back a positive experi-
ence,” Reburn added.
Myrtle’ Beach native and 14-
year-old “Cherokee” returnee
William Hewitt feels that he
doesn’t get close to nature in his
growing city. Along with the
changing of bulbs, he enjoys the
sight of mountains, goes creek
crawling, and snake catching.
“Here the trees are skyscrap-
ers,” Hewitt stated.
“The one (environmental)
problem with the cfls is that
there is a little mercury in the
bulb,” O’Cain said.
However the ECSC is con-
stantly working to better the
bulb. Results from Wal-mart
and other stores have proven to
O’Cain their future.
“Wal-mart set a goal (last
year) to sale 100 million. They
exceeded their goal,” O’Cain
said.
As for a few miles across the
border into North Carolina
O’Cain stated, “I imagine NC
cooperatives * are doing the
same.”
But the goal, of O’Cain and
Electric Cooperatives of S.C., of
REBECCA PISCOPO/HERALD
Kings Mountain State Park Ranger Shea Jordan changes a
bulb in one of the park’s camp houses to a more energy effi-
cient bulb.
plugging cfls into homes may
start by simply lighting up a
child’s mind.
School plans show KM has most potential for future growth
New schools could be on the horizon
. REBECCA PISCOPO
: rdickinson@kingsmountainherald.com
Line, bar graphs, charts
with algebraic formulas in a
presentation by Jeffrey Tsai
and Tom Cook was translated
in plain English as “school
needs” for the Cleveland
County Board of Education at
its meeting Monday night.
The needs for a possible
new high school and elemen-
tary schools in = Kings
Mountain = was addressed.
Instead of looking at school
populations year by year, the
>. piled ‘a tT 0 ns
Research/Education
Laboratory” study shows
expected growth up until the
year 2012.
Chairman Tommy Greene
stated, “We need to start look-
ing as funds become available
for population growth. Land
will be gone so we need to
prepare.”
But concocting plans aren't
meant for 2008 or even ‘09.
The study charts show the
elementary and middle school
attendance rates are flat or
decreasing. The only one at its
peak according to Tsai is high
school.
Kings Mountain is expected
to see the most growth. Cook
and Tsai are looking to
Charlotte. “The I-85 South
Corridor is the last to experi-
ence growth from Charlotte.
Its now affecting Gaston
County,” Cook stated. “Will
some of the impact be delayed
because of gas prices?”
Growth means more fami-
lies which, in turn, is equiva-
lent to higher numbers of stu-
dents. Currently, KM looks to
have more residential growth
in the short term than most
areas. Gas prices, however,
weren't taken into the account
of the study.
Still, East ‘and = West
Elementary. Schools are over
capacitated, according to the
study.
“Kings Mountain has diffi-
culty handling growth espe-
cially in East and West. The
first thing is to start looking at
a potential site for new ele-
mentary schools in KM,” stat-
ed Program Director Jeff Tsai
of ihe Institute for
Transportation Research and
- Education at North Carolina
State University.
On average Cleveland
County as a whole is expected
to see 100-200 students in
growth. Kings Mountain
Intermediate, as shown by the
study, is one exception
because of a localized
increase.
“Allocation is one of those
things I keep in my top draw-
er,” Greene said. “This gives
us a long term view. (This is) a
lot of good planning informa-
tion! We need to look in those
circles and clusters where
development can take place.”
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