North Carolina Newspapers

City Limit* Population 7.208 J* I U? o. S. OmnMni aw. report tor 1850. Tb? C?mui Buitou ettlmatot the nation's pop ui cylioa ?tda eloco USO at 1.7 porcomt poi yoaf. which ? H Ktogs 1*54 population should appro*. _???? ??" PopuUrtlou is tl4V ba**d ux. ^ XU*S >**????*? IABLS Newspaper VOL 64 NO. 42 Established 1889 Pages Today Kings Mountain, N. C., Thursday, October 21, 1954 Sixty-Fourth Year PRICE FIVE CENTS BEFORE AMD AFTER W^Oai. ? Hnrrldmo Haw! wrecked homei of four King* Mountain citizens In the South Carolina beach area last Friday- Picture at top shows normal beachv serenity before Ha*. ?L Left to right ate a portion of an unidentified home, Mrs. Hayne BlacVaner*# cottage, tho Paul Noisier homo, and the homo of B. T. LeGrande, of Shelby. Tho pictures at center and below show tho do structlon Bteil; wroulesd on these homos. Center picture shows tho / remains of the three homos, all tho debris pUod together* Tho cot ? tage loft standing was on tho second sow. Bottom photo shows tho interior of the Nelslor home after MuM dfruck and passed on. (Rur LODGE ttcrrova A communication of Fair, view Lodge 339 A. F. and A. M. for work in the third degree will ibe held at Masonic Hml] Monday night at H96, Joe H. HcDaniel, secretary, announ ced. Due to Judge Jack White be ing out Of -own for srvfr;)l days, regular Monday after noon sessloa o? City Recorder's court will not be held thJa T*ro*rriJrj for three male and ;*art? in Jhe fi mt atM play of tho Foot Kings Mountain citizens suffered lorn of beach homes dur J&g> Hurricane Hazel's terrible visit last weekend, and numer ous others had narrow esutjpal whfcn caught in the hurricane ar ea of the two Carolinas. Alter a visit to Crescent Beach, S. C.. Paul M. Nelsler, Sr., re ported, "I can't find which splin ters belong to me.M Mr. Nelsler said his three- wsdroom borate, the four bedroom house owned by hifi mother, Mrs. C. E. Noisier, and the home of Mrs. Hayne Blackmer arc total losses. IB addition, the recently-built home of Mis* Alice Averitt, at Garden City Beach. S. C., was completely destroyed. ,? - The home at Crescent formerly owned by D. C. Mauney was al so reported a toUl loss. 1 2 Ail reported that even the k?U were washed into the sea. V Among thdse narrowly escap ing death in the hurricane, were City Puichasing Subject Of City Meeting Flare-op Mayor Glee A.' BridJjtes and Commissioner Harold J. Phillips joined in a heated verbal battle at Monday night's city board ses sion, which had been set to dis cuss gas installation- problems. The meeting waxed explosive whbn Mr. Phillips charged the mayor with channeling too much rity purchasing to Bridges Hard ware, a charge heatedly denied by Mayor Bridges. In the course of the discussion, Mr. Phillips made the statement, "I'll never run again, but I don't think it (the city government) has been run right." The discussion also drew acrid questions from John Dilling, who had been present tor the gas dis cussion, concerning the city audit. After the meeting, Mayor Brid ges and Commi Phillips further discussed the Incident in the City Hall's main passageway in less heated tones, mutually apologiz ed for getting angry, ?(nd shook hands, Mr. Phillips said Tuesday. Phillips added that he did not withdraw his contentions. Mr. Phillips, stating the "mer chants are fussing about city bus iness'^ said the city had spent City-Bridges Account jr. C. Bridges, partnerlrT 8rlcT " ges Hardware Company, ail. dressed a letter to the editor, of the Herald Wednesday, con cerning his firm's account with . the City of Kings Mountain. ' Mr. Bridges wrote: "We understand that during the discussion at the last city council meeting the City's ac count with us was mentioned. "For your information the $2,584.06 that We sold the city of .Kings Mountain during the last three months, 84% of this was for cement which was sold on a competitive basis and for terra-c6tta plpte ? that came di rect from the factory to the city on a wholesale basis, both of which carry a very ? low margin of profit" $2,500 with Bridges Hardware in the past three months and stated subsequently "city employees tell me their jobs are jeopardized If thsy don't buy from Bridges Hardware". Mayor Bridges rejoined strong* ly that he had nevter told any body where to buy anything. -''My Instructions to all were to buy i i v , if possible," Mayor Bridges replied, and he denied that he had evfer coerced tempted to coerce any employee to purchise from Bridge? Hard h 7?>" ??? 1 ' In the course of the conversa tion, Mayor Bridges said he was merely an employee of the firm **** ??n* for the past four years. . i thai I have coerced anybody," the Ma [ On Page fight ? ii .1 ? . - , .. ....... ? ' . CARROUSEL PRINCESS ? Miss Joan Arthur, daughter ol Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Arthur, will represent Kings Mountain High school in the 1954 Carollnas Carrousel in Charlotte in November. Miss Arthur, 16, is a member ol the high school band and- student council. Condemnation Bid Favoied Paul E. Monroe, clerk ol Su perior Court of Gaston county, ruled with the City ipf Kings Mountain last Friday after a two -hour bbartng ortMb* city's peti. tlon to condemn 2.56 .acres of land belonging to Paul Mauney. The city seeks the land, lying north of U. S. Highway 29 arid 74, for use in building a new sew age treatment plant on MoGill Creek. Bids on the construction have been let provisionally, a waiting a court order for utlliti zation of the Mauney tract. The city was represented at the hearing by its attorney, J. R. Davis, while Mr. Mavney waa re presented by George Thomas son. Mr. Davis said he calleaaa wit nesses Mayor Glee A. Bridges, City Clerk Joe Hendrick, E. C. Nicholson, public worka superin tendent, Comm. w. G. Gran tham, and Marion Hair and Mr. Pardee, of the W. K. Dickson engineering firm. Mr. Mauney was the only witness called by Attorney Thomassorf. Principal testimony, Mr. Davis said, came from. Mr. Hair, who stated that th esewage treatment plant anticipated v/as not a mere septic tank, but a reament plant using the bio-filtration prodHs with post ? chlorlnatlon. Mr. Hair described the proposed plant as similar to the plant rec ommended for the city in the Ol sen Engineering survey, to which defendant had referred as a bet1 tSr type plant for the purpose. The city asked that F. J. Nob let t, Bessemer City merchant, be named the city's representative on the appraisal team. On Wed nesday Mr. Thomasson said hi* client nas asked that Wray A. Plonk be named his representa tive. Under legal procedure, teach Continued On Page Bight Second Baptist -.and Oak Grove Hosts To Association Session & - \ k i - ? ? I ' ? j',.. , r * ? ?&* I Two Kings Mountain churchei, Second Baptist and Oak Grove Baptist, will be among the host churches this wteekend for th* 104th annual convention of the Kings Mountain Baptist associa tion- ' 7 The convention > will open Thursday morning at 9:20 at Se cond Baptist church, will mpve to Lawndale Baptist church for the Thursday n!ght session, and will return Friday to Oak Glove Bap tist church for the 'concluding C. c. Crow, former Oak pastor, Is the moderator. Theme for the meeting will be "Revive Thy Work", and election |of a new tnyMrator, limited to two years in office, IS scheduled the Rev. Ben C. Fisher of eastern Seminary and a ary sermon by the Rev. Burley S. Turner, pilar of Waco Bat . 1 tlst church. J Portions of the pH [be g tvfen during the! the Rev. Albert R. Rev. C. C Crow, B; Dr. Phil E. Elliott," ..Hi **H1 St roup, the Rev. H. Gordon Weekly and the Rev. J. C. Canty*. Special music Will be given by the Gardner-Webb College choir prior to the missionary sermon, which is the last feature of the morning session. Thursday afternoon a first hand report of conditions and needs of the orphanages support ed by Baptists afr/'Ji* state Witt be given by J. liarse Grant, who is familiar to most Eaptlsta by his outstanding work wKKlihe and OtMtm." ;#gr < speakers during the afternoMi aMslotfjrill . L. li. Tenery, the R*v. J. R. Howe, the Rev. J. C. Goare, the Rev. Homer O. Baker, the Ray. E. L. SpWy, Mrs, A. C. Continued On Page Bight I School Board Speeds Plans For New Plant Members of the Kings Moun tain school board were inter viewing architects yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon in an ef fort to speed up plans for con struction of an elementary school building in the north sec tion of the city. Superintendent B. N. Barnes said representatives of five firms had agreed to meet with school officials yesterday. One firm is to be retained by the board in connection with construction of the new unit, recommended by i a state school board survey team. Text of the survey team report Is printed on page 8, Section 2. t; The five firms who agreed to meet with the board are: Vaughn & Ormand, Van Wageningen & Cothran, and Breeze, Holland & Riviere, all of Shelby; Beemer Harrill of Hickory; and J. L. Beam, Jr., of CherryviUe. The hoard, ift its regular mon thly meeting at Centra] school Monday night, discussed the state survey team's site report and agreed to interview archi tects in an effort to obtain im mediately the services of one so that work on plans for the new elemtentary building, including the selection of a site, could be started immediately.' Trustee Fred W. Plonk report ed that all property owners in the two areas recommended by the survey team had been con tacted and that all had agreed to sell land for the new school. No Mere Septic Tank, Hair Says p^ikriorHs. ^fair, o? the city1* en gineering firm W. K. Dickson A Company, Inc., addressed a letter to Mayor Glee A. Bridges Mon day stating that the city's pro posed sewage treatment plant on McGill Crteek Is "no mere sep tic tank". Mr. Hair's letter follows simi lar testimony he gave as a wit ness for the city in last Friday's hearing before the Gaston court clerk In the city's effort to obtain property from Paul Mauney for the plant site. - Mr. Hair wrote: 'I am writing at the suggestion of Mr. J. ft. Davis, Attorney for the City of Kings Mountain, to clear up an apparent general mis understanding concerning the se wage treatment plant to be con structed on McGUI Creek. This plant wil be a secondary treat ment plant using the Bio-filtra tion process with oast chlorina tion. Apparently a umber of peo ple in Kings Mow ' had been under the Impress .*! that It would be merely a septic tank. Which la definitely not the case. 'The plain wrhklt >?*? U? n de signed Cor the McGill Creak ares utilizes one of the best methods known for handling sewage and Will provide a very high degree of treatment. In addition a post chlorination process will be used, whleh will give additional pro tection against odors and health hazards downstream." Demetrtaties Given Suspended Sentence John Demetrlades, pleading* guilty to 13 charges of Issuing worthless checks, was handed a fix months suspended sentence by Judge Jack White, Friday aft ernoon in City Recorder's court. Demetrlades' sentence was suspended on condition that he reimburse prosecuting witness es the amount "t checks issuqf}, and paying costs of court. jiVlffi+^pafendaht pled guilty to *?< mounting approximately to inip to Gaston Sausage Com pany, Sunrise Dairy; Bost Bak XrkT Victory Chevrolet Company, Coca-Cola Bottllri* Tvr^pany, City of King* Mountain and Chatfette Linen Company. Demetrlades was released from City Jail late Saturday. He had been held until the conditions of the Judgment were met. Fred JL Hennlger . Fred A. Hrnninger, KiwanlS district commltteemao oa Key ClUb work* #111 address mem t}a*s of the Rings Mountain Kl wants club at their Thursday night maadefc' - - Pf? ' Gueata at the meeting wiy be miUbeis of the high school Key Club, a Klwanls ? fostered or ganization. t?l|s LtLb-MtKAE YOUNG DEMOCRATS ? Pictured are offers of the Lees-McRae college Young Democrats club. Left to right are Miss Vangie Whited. Swords Creek, Va.. secretarY-treasurer; Dean West moreland. Kings Mountain, president; and Charles Gouge. Spruce Pine, vice-president. Westmoreland is a Graver high school gradu ate. Water Supply Rate Of Decline Slows Consumption Fell Heavily In Past Week "II we can get by until Novem bier 1 ~?- and I 'think 'we can we'H bie o. K," was the assess ment E. C, Nicholson, public works superintendent put on the city's short water supply Wed nesday. . ? ? Mr. Nicholson reported the Da vidson Creek reservoir level has reached the base intake valve and tbat the pipe line into the Gold Mine shaft has been ex tended to its maximum depth of 265-266 feet. He estimated the present flow from fhis source at 300 gallons per minute. Consumption dropped consider ably during the past week to ma terially aid the situation. Filter Plant Operator George Moss said pumpage for the week ending Tuesday averaged only 357,000 gallons per day, a drop of 51,000 gallons per day from the previ ous week's consumption. The low point was Monday, when city water customers used only 240, 000 gallons of finished water. Mr. Nicholson still guessed that the Davidson creek s&urce would be available about October 26, but 1 he said last Friday's rain did not sid notlcably the city's supply except to eliminate one day's normal evaporation. Work op raising by four feet the level of the York Road re servoir dam is underway and should be completed next week, he added. Joe McDaniel, assistant city clerk, said a check of October 1 billings for water showed 22 cus tomers with seemingly large con sumption figures. However, he Continued On Page Bight Bloodmobile Visit Set November 1 The Red Cross Bloodmobile unit has scheduled a visit to Kings Mountain, Monday. No vember 1 In the basemejn of the newly renovated Woman's j club between the hours ot 11 a. | m. and 5 p. m. Mrs. E. W. Griffin, Red Cross publicity chairman, stated Tuesday that it will bte "neces sary to have at least 200 poten tial donors in order to get the 125 pint quota." Mrs. Griffin also urged a re visit by all persons turned a way at the Labor Day record collection, when some 50 don ors were unable to be process ed when Red Cross Bloodmo bile staff closed the doors at 5 p. m. To End Saturday , Registration books, open at all polling places for the November 2 general election, will close Sat urday afternoon. The registrars will be at the polling places to handle trans fers and accept new registrations all day Saturday and are remind ing eligible but unregistered vo ters to get' their names on the books. As expected, registration acti vity has been light. Mrs. Nell Cranford, East Kings Mountain registrar, added five names to the book last Saturday, but Mrs. J. H. Arthur, West Kings Moun tain registrar, added none. Onfe jWest Kings Mountain voter I checked his registration. Mrs. H. | A. Goforth, at Bethware, has al ' so had only a few registrations. . ?' " ' f. . ? ' . libs. Carl Mayer Is Top Winner At Woman's Club Floral Event Mr*. Car] Mayes was top win- 1 ncr In the Woman's club's Slati annual floral fair, "Autumn Har vest" Wednesday afternoon, re ceiving both the sweepstake a ward for winning the most blue ribbons in the show and a tri color seal for submitting the best entry in the arrangement dlvi-. slon. * .-1 Miss Elizabeth Anthony won tMrtri-color seal awarded to the beat entry in the horticulture di vision. She entered an arrange ment of gerbera, and Mrs: May e?' winning entry was a dried ar rang*H*?-^S, h '?$ Awards In the Junior division were won by Sara Del Hendricks, Beth House., "-and Polly Page. Kings Mountain garden clubs en tered table arrangements and re cciv.'d special mtdl, Judging was eUmiftafed In the bazaar division of the 1964 show. Judges Were Mrs. #.? L. Kiser, or Hickory. Mrs. J. V Stewart, Mrs. Karl Yoder, and Mrs. I It. I Eaton, all of Ntwton, and Mr*. C. B. Mattocks and Mrs. C. a Haworth, both of High Point The winners in each division follow. ARRANGEMENTS Division I ? Section B Open Classes Class 1 Foliage, flowers, and fruits: (an arrangement using foliage, flowers, and fruit in any suiuble container) ? Mrs. John L. McGHl. 1st; Mrs. Henry Nets ler, 2nd; and Mrs. M. A. Ware, 3rd. Clate. 2 ? Last Rosea of Sum mer: (a crescent arrangement with, roses predominating in a container with a stem) ? Mrs. Hunter Nelsler, 2nd. Class 3 ? Flowerless Beauty: (a monochromactlc arrangement using tints, tones, and shades of green) ? Mrs. W. M. Qantt, let; Mrs. John L. McGlll, 2nd; Mrs. W. L. Pressly, 3rd; and Mrs. Sam Davis, honorable menf'on. Class 4 ~ An arrangement In a metal container using one kind of flower ? Mrs. Joe Nelsler, 1st; Mrs. HA. A. Wan, 2nd; and Mrs. Co* hewed On Pofe Might ? . . *. . ;y ; I /,.VA ? ' . * 1 ? 1 Cooke States Procedures Are Improved Auditor Robert H." Cooke. Shel by certified public accountant, ad dressed a second letter on the 1953-54 City of Kings Mountain audit report to the mayor and board of commissioners Tuesday, the second letter' minimizing cri ticisms ot city bookkeeping pro cedures contained In Auditor Cooke's original letter of Septem ber 14. Mr. Cooke's September 14 let ter first became public in a news story in last week's Herald. The text of the October 19 let ter from Mr. Cooke, delivered to the Herald by Mayor Glee A. Bridges and Commissioner W. G. Grantham Tuesday, follows: "In reference to the audit of the City of Kings Mountain and letter written and addressed to the Mayor and Board of Commis sioners, and also regarding news reports, I wish to clarify certain comments and criticisms in con nection with said audit, for the benefit of yourselves as well as the citizenship. "BUDGET OVEREXPEND1 TURE ? During the current year under review, the City sold bonds in the amount of $600,000 to pro vide funds for Weter and Sewer and recreational facilities. The budget could have been afnended to include this amount as antici pated revenue: In spending a cer tain amount of this money during the year which had not been bud geted. an overexpenditure of the budget resulted. This matter may be in the classification of a tech nical matter which definite de termination would require legal interpretation. "PRESENT BOARP ? It was ascertained by me that the pre sent Mayor and Board have been In office a year From criticisms of predecessor Auditors it would appear that the operation of the [City had been most deplorable in prior years. It would not there fore be possible for an adminis tration to revise and correct all procedures and overcome* all the previous mistakes made in the short course of time which your Board has had. THERE WAS NOT the slightest intimation nor Indication that there were any fi nancial irregularities nor defal cations in my report in connec tion with either the Mayor or Board, nor the City Clerks and Office Personnel. To the contrary I commented that there had been improvement in the Internal Control during the year, as com pared to conditions as commented upon by predecessor Auditors. In addition thereto, part of the rec ommendations which were made N by me were put into effect even before the audit report had been delivered. This would indicate your willingness to further im prove the Internal Control and Accounting Procedures, as time would permit. I do congratulate you upon your revision of some of the policies Immediately, which were recommended by me. There are as I said, grounds for addi tional improvement in the Inter nal Control and Accounting pro cedures which takes time to ac complish. "COMMENT ON BOND MON EY AND POWELL BILL MON EY ? There wax no Indication in my report that any irregularity had occurred In connection with the expenditure of Bond money nor Powell Bill money. The pur pose of this comment was to 1m piv?s upon you the importance j of continuing. In line In connec tion with this matter, and other matters regarding ear marked funds. "PUBLICATION Of SUMMA RY OF RECEIPTS AND DIS BURSEMENTS ? - It would not be expected that the City govern ing body would prepare and pub lish a Summary of Receipts and Disbursements the day after re ceiving the report. This takes . time to prepare and reasonable time to present same to the Pub lisher. Certainly thirty days would not be an unreasonable time. I know of no time limit in the requirement, however. "AUDIT REPORTS ? PUBLIC PROPERTY ? While the audit reports are public property and can be seen by any citizen I know of no reason that publication should be made that thfc report U finished, nor the neceeslty of calling any one by telephone nor contact by letter, nor otherwise, that the report Is available. -OTHER COMMENT The ?weakest Internal Control dis covered by me was in connection with the . Parking Meter monies, both as to meter collections and CofttfcMMtf O* Page Bight