North Carolina Newspapers

Population Greater Kings Mountain 10,320 City Limits 8,008 Tki* figure for Greater King* Mountain U derived beta the 1955 King* Mountain city directory ceneu*. The dry Emit* figure U from the United State* cam of I960. VOL 72 No. 20 mountain's Reliable Newspaper 1 Seventy-Second Year Pages Today PRICE TEN CENTS Established 1889 Kings Mountain, N. C., Thursday, May 25, 1961 Kelly Dixon, Three Commissioners To Take Oaths Manager System Vote Likely Soon Abbreviated Board States Its Intentions An abbreviated city board of commissioners, on recommenda tion of retiring Mayor Glee A. Bridges, adopted resolutions of intent Wednesday morning to 1) Conduct an election on the city manager form of govern ment under the legislative act of 1959, and 2) Older a new registration of voters, preferably employing a card index system "or some other permanent-type registration sys tem. Present for the meeting to can vass the votes from Tuesday’s run-off election were Contes. Ray Cline, T. J. Ellison and Ben H. Bridges. The resolutions were unanimous. Boyce H. Gault ar rived a few moments later. The board then adopted anoth er resolution of the technical kind, when City Attorney J. R. Davis informed the commission that the state required a copy of the resolution conveying the ar mory site to the state. This res olution had not been adopted pre viously. . Suggesting the city manager void and new registration, May or Bridges said he felt Wednes day morning as he had previous ly, that the vote Should be con ducted. He pointed out that the new registration Should 'be han dled prior to the city elections of 1963, to assure Kings Mountain’s first new registration since 1939. The 1959 legislative act which wotfld enable the city to call an election on the manager system provides, if adopted, an optional type manager system whereby the elected Mayor could also be designated city manager or some one else could be named city manager, the decision within the province of the board of commis sioners. After the act was passed, at the instance otf .Bridges Adminis tration IV, the administration (Continued On Page Eight) r~ Run-off Voting j [SIDELIGHTS iWard 1 voters hold the dis tinction of turning out in great er number (toy six) than they did in the May 9 election. The ward 1 total was 243. * * * * Other voting totals by wards: Ward 2, 337; Ward 3, 433; Ward 4, 471; Ward 5, 648. As is custo mary, more votes were cast for mayor than for any other office, a total of 2110 of the 2132 people voting either for Kejly Dixon or Glee A. Bridges. Just 22 either didn’t like either, or had no o pinion. t * * * * j The run-off produced two write-ins. One Ward 3 voter wanted Buck Early for Ward 4 commissioner and Don Falls for Ward 5 commissioner. * * * * Ward 3 holds distinction for voting in aggregate only for the winners in the run-off. * * • • | TOe election results had hard ly been posted before the more saereligious among the voters be gan speculating on the locale of the Kings Mountain’s 1961-63 "Tammany Hall.’’ Back When W. G. Grantham was a commis sioner, Victory Chevrolet Com pany was the tijeoetical caucus ing place, then, in 1958-61, it mo ved reputedly to Gault’s Grocery. * » * * (Mr. and Mrs. Baxter Payseur and their young son arrived at the West Kings Mountain pre cinct almost, but not quite, in time to’vote. * * • • Interesting reactions to the e lection were given by citizens seeking results via telephone to the Herald. One lady, obviously an ardent Dixon supporter, burst out crying for joy when assured she’d heard the initial report cor rectly. * • * • lA man, obviously favoring Glee Bridges, got a repeat on the result and commented, "I’ll be damned.” Results were posted at the Her ald about f ;30, two hours after the polls closed. Dixon To Push White Way, % Sidewalks, Sewage Disposal TO GET DEGREE _ William K. Rhea, of Kings Mountain, is to receive the degree of Graduate in Theology from Tennessee Temple Bible school Monday. Rhea To Receive Theology Degree William K. Rhea, son of Mrs Dora Rhea, Route 2, Kings Moun tain, North Carolina, is a candi date to receive the Graduate of Theology diploma from Tenn esse Temple Bible School, Chatt anooga, Tennessee, at the com mencement exercises on May 29, 7:30 p.. m. While attending school, Mr. Rhea has participated in various Christian activities. He plans to enter full-time Christian work. Mir. Rhea is married and has two children. Mrs. Rlalock's Rites Conducted ] Funeral rites for Mrs. Fairy Wlhisnant Blalock, 79, wile of Bawson Goforth Blalock, were held Tuesday at 4 p. m. from El Bethel Methodist church of which She was a member. I' 1 > (Mrs. Blalock died Sunday night in the Kings Mountain hospital after an illness of two days. A native of Cleveland County, she was the daughter of the late (Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt Whisnant. In addition to her husband, Whom she married in 1697, she is survived by six sons, Wyatt Bla lock, Charles Blalock, George Bla lock, Herman Blalock, Frank Blalock, all of Kings Mountain; and James Blalock of Forest City; and four daughters, Mrs Fred Wright, Sr., and Mrs. Rob ert Kale of Kings Mountain, Mrs. Buett White of Gastonia and Mrs. Guy Marshall of Bessemer City. Also surviving are 18 grandchil dren, 24 great-grandchildren and two great-great- grandchildren. The final rites were conducted by Rev. Bruce Norwood, assisted by Rev. Norman Brown and Rev. Herbert Garmon. Interment was in the El Bethel cemetery. Bridges Plans Work, Fishing After completing eight busy years as Kings Mountain’s May or Thursday morning. Glee A. Bridges, ousted from office Tues day by the narrow margin of 116 votes, expects to get in some fish ing, do some work, and other wise take life easier. “After all," Mr. Bridges laugh-; ed, ‘Tm nearly 67." Mr. Bridges will hang his wor king hat for part-time duty at Bridges Hardware, a business he sold to his sons, some years ago. He expects to do a lot of fishing, both with grandchildren and Mrs. Bridges, also an expert with rod, reel and line. He told his successful oppon ent, Kvily Dixon, Wednesday morning, “I congratulate you and wish you well.’’ GOP Mayor To Downplay Partisanship Incoming (Mayor Kelly Dixon said Wednesday he will recom mend to the board of commis sioners installation of a new bus iness district lighting system and broadening of the public recrea tion program. “It appears,” he continued, "that the city is over the hump on street-paving and perhaps we’ll be able to give more prom inent place in the future to side walk work and other improve ments." lOn the question of Sunday op erations, Mr. Dixon remarked, “I thought I was pretty clear on that. I don’t intend to recommend disfranchising one enterprise while others are allowed to op erate." He repeated a campaign state ment in stating, “I still regard the city operation as a non-parti san one, as far as national parti san political parties are concern ed.” ' He added, "I shall be at the service of the people as much as is feasibly possible1.” • On possible major long-term improvements, Mr. Dixon com mented that he hoped it would be possible to improve the city’s sewage disposal facilities during his administration. Asked if he ran with anticipa tion of being a full-time mayor, Mr. Dixon smiled, “I thought that’s what I was running for.” Mr. Dixon had answered the question affirmatively on a radio broadcast during the campaign. MEETING There will be a special Ses sion meeting Sunday morning, 10:30, May 28 to receive new members ait (the First Presby terian church. CALLED MEETING Kings Mountain School Board will hold a called meet ing Thursday at 12:15 p. m. at Central School. I Glynda Lynn, Top Speller, To Capitol Glynda Lynn, East school sev enth grader, leaves Saturday lor Washington, D. C., to participate in the national spelling bee which will crown a champion speller next week. Miss Lynn is the third Kings Mountain student to participate in the national contests as re presentative from the regional spelling bee sponsored by the Charlotte Observer. Jan Williams of Central went to Washington last year and Bobby Early, now a Belmont Abbey sophomore, ad vanced in the finals when an eighth grader at West school. Miss Lynn will be accompanied to Washington by her mother, Mrs. Roy Lynn, and by Miss Han nah Miller, reporter for the Ob server. The Lynns will return home I Saturday, June 3rd, ARP-Catholic Transfer Begins Dr. W. 1,. Pressly, pastor oi Boyce Memorial Associate Re formed Presbyterian church, has j vacated the Piedmont avenue j manse and the Roman Catholic | church, which is purchasing the j ARP plant, has begun renovating ! the church sanctuary. Dr. and Mrs. Pressly moved Monday to the Stallings residen ce on Meadowbrook Drive. The ARP congregation will hold services Sunday in the ARP educational building and will vacate this part of the plant on completion of the transaction. _ The congregation has made ar rangement to rent West School until lit can erect and occupy new quarters on Edgemont avenue. ARP SERVICE Sunday services at Boyce Memorial ARP church will be held in the educational unit, according to announcement by Dr. W. L. Pressly, pastor. County-wide Unit Opposed "At This Time" BY DAVID BAITY “We favor a county-wide plan for financing schools. It is North Carolina’s plan. But we feel a county-wide merger of schools should be studied and not rush ed into.” said Supt. B. N. Barnes Monday night before some 200 school patrons who had met at the new Shelby High School gymnasium for a discussion of the pros and cons of a county wide school consolidation. Mr. Barnes was summing up his views following a report by Citizens Committee for Better Schools administration sub-com mittee chairman Lloyd Bost. Barnes noted that he thought! the county-wide merger has mer it, but that it should be studied ! He pointed out he felt it would not be feasible at this time sin ce cerain areas of the counity .have already effected consolida tions and the abrupt change would wipe out plans for build ings in these areas. Mr. Bost, in presenting a re port of his committee's findings through a two month survey no | ted many advantages and disad vantages of a merger. Merging the units would cre ate a unit large enough to pro vide a good program at reason ] able cost, eliminate boundary line and annexation problems, provide uniform facilities throu ghout the-county, uniform spry ice and tax rates, facilitate long range planning and prevent dup lication of facilities. Negro pat rons have requested one or two large high schools. Elimination of boundary lines would help provide them, Bost said. On the other hand, countywide consolidation would not reduce the total administrative and su pervisory staff. It might close some schools which serve a com munity centers. Rural areas might be unwilling to support supplemental school taxes. Early years of consolidation might pro duce indecision and confusion. Bost’s report included trends in school administration as prepar ed by the Institute of Govern ment, as well as local facts and figures. From answers to questions po sed by citizens, the consensus of school and lay leaders on the panel with Bost was that a one unit county school system must be approached gradually. How ever, (the group expressed high hopes for financing schools in the present separate districts by countywide bond issues. Panel members for the infor mation session along with Bost included Supt. Barnes, Max Ham (Continued On Page Tenf Graduation Starts For 185 Graduation exercises for 185 students in all township schools begin Sunday and continue thro ugh next Friday. (Baccalaureate services for se niors in Kings Mountain, Beth ware, Grover, Compact, and Da vidson schools will be held Sun day. With exception of Davidson and Compact, where programs will begin at 3 p. m., the other schools have arranged exercises at 8 p. m. The Grover baccalau reate sermon will be delivered by Rev. Richard Hobson at Shi loh Presbyterian church. All oth er schools will hold their pro grams in the school auditoriums. Rev. H. D. Garmon, pastor of Central Methodist church, will make the baccalaureate address to 104 Kings Mountain high school seniors Sunday. Other; ministers of the community will participate on the program. Com -1 mencemen-t exercises will ‘be held | next Friday, June 2nd. Diplomas will be awarded to 29 Grover seniors Tuesday night at 8 p. m. when members of the class will present the graduation program. Finals exercises at Compact will also be held Tues day night with the address to be made by Lewis C. Dowdy,, dean of the School of Education at A&T college at Greensboro. Rev. j Samuel Geiger of Winston ‘Salem will deliver the Sunday bacoalau-j reate sermon. Bethware finals will be held Wednesday night at 8 p. m. and j senior class members will con duct the program. At Sunday's baccalaureate program. Rev. James A. Hudson, pastor of Plea sant Hill Baptist church, will make the address. Rev. S. C. Cureon of Walhalla, S. C-, will deliver the baccalau reate sermon at Davidson school Sunday. Diplomas will be pre sented to 10 seniors in school fi nals June 2 when the principal address will be made by Rev. C. E. Quick of Charlotte. At each of the several town ship schools special music will be rendered by the school Glee dubs and Mixed Choruses and at each of the county schools valedictory and salutatory addresses will be made by honor students. Candidates for diplomas from Gnever school are: Evelyn Car lene Allen, Gloria Huffstetler Ap pling, Julia Elizabeth Batehler, 'Marion Kenneth Batehler, Thom as Ken Bess, Gerane Pauline Blackburn, Nancy Katherine Brooks, Grady Eugene Cash, Ja nelle Conner, Barbara Ann Day, Brenda Crocker Goforth, Reba Mae Goforth, Helen Sue Hudson, Geraldine Humphries, Susan Gafl Little, Shirley Lee Moss, Jackson Dorritte Mulllnax, Robert Eu gene Philbeck, Alfred James Queen, Ronald Lamaris Queen, Don Richard Roark, Nancy Con i' Continued On Page Ten) OFFICIAL RETURNS City Run-off Election, May 23,1961 Ward Ward Ward Ward Ward FOR MAYOR 1 2 3 4 5 Totals Kelly Dixon_J15|_157j 290' 2941 257:1113 Glee A. Bridges 121} 176} l-fip182' 377 997 WARD 2 COMMISSIONER Eugene Goforth 123| 187! 232| 249i 307 1098 Boyce H. Gault 114 144 189 223 299 969 WARD 4 COMMISSIONER Ben H. Bridges 181| 202i 260j 227! 452 1322 Norman King 54} 133| 167) 249 176! 779 Ward 5 commissioner J. E. “Zip” Rhea 129|. 229; 2631 2711 483| 1375 R. Coleman Stroupe 108| 108] 162p202j 147} 727 Mayor KELLY DIXON Ward 2 Commissioner EUGENE GOFORTH Ward 4 Commissioner BEN H. BRIDGES Ward J. E Commissioner (ZIP) RHEA Ben Bridges, Rhea And Goforth Win Poppy Day Sale Set For Saturday Wear a poppy on Poppy Day Saturday! This is a suggestion from O tis D. Green Post, 155, the A meriean Legion Auxiliary, which w;ll sponsor on Saturday the annual Poppy Day, a me morial to the nation’s war dead. Women from the auxiliary will offer for sale to the pub lic these red crepe paper flow ers which are made by veter ans themiselves. The street-sale will be conducted all day and funds will go directly to disab led veterans and their families, help educate war orphans and provide financial assistance to needy children. Mrs. Paul Mauney is chair man of Poppy Day. . Senate Bill 308 Opposed A bill to amend the so-called Cleveland County school act >of 1935, introduced toy Senator Hum ber of Pitt on May 16, has fea tures objectionable to local school officials, they said this week. Meantime, Senator Robert F. Morgan, of Cleveland, told the Herald by telephone Wednesday afternoon he is a member of a sub committee of the Senate fi nance committee which has a greed to recommend that the bill (Senate Bill 308) apply to Pitt county only. Senator Morgan added, how ever, it is possible the committee j may recommend that the bill be: passed as permissive legislation' only. Of the sevaral provision of the ■bill the one listed as Objectiona ble by Chairman Fred Plonk, of the board of education, and Supt, B. N. Barnes would set our pro cedure whereby 10 percent of the voters of any contiguous area in a school district may petition that such area be separated from ori ginal school district and be an nexed to another contiguous school district, with annexed a rea to be taxable for payment of all present and future indebted ness or annexing school district and will continue to be taxable for payment of then outstanding indebtedness of original school district. The original 1935 bill relates to; issuance of school building bonds in behalf of school districts and j special bond tax units and levy-; ing of taxes for these purposes. ! Several counties other than! Cleveland were Included in the; original bill, among them Pitt, Alamance. Burke, Franklin, Ga tes, and Orange. Dixon Edges Glee Bridges; Rhea Is High An unusual and unpredicted turnout of voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s run-off election and, with a lone exception, completed the face-changing at City Hall begun on May 9. Kelly Dixon, Republican chal lenger for Mayor, overcame a first race deficit of 287 votes and went on to outrun Mayor Glee A. Bridges, four-term incumbent by 1113 to 997, a margin of 116 vo tes. Eugene Goforth, flooring con tractor, 203 votes 'behind Boyce H. Gault, two-term incumbent, on May 9, polled 1098 votes to edge Mr. Gault by 129 votes for Ward 2 commission seat. Another newcomer, J. E. (Zip) Rhea, who led Incumbent R. Coleman Stroupe in the May 9 voting toy 254, widened his mar gin in the Tuesday run-off. Rhea polled 1375 votes to lead the tic ket, While Mr. Stroupe polled 727, same number of votes he won on May 9. The Rhea margin was 648 votes. iBen H. Bridges, Ward 4 com missioner. will be the lone hold over from the present adminis tration. He easily withstood the challenge of Norman King, Sou thern Bell serviceman. Comm. Bridges received 1322 votes a gainst Mr. King’s 779. The win ning margin was 543. lA total of 2132 citizens cast votes Tuesday, a record for a municipal run off, and only 95 votes less than 23 candidates at tracted May 9. Mr. I>ixon won the election in Wards 3 and 4. Mayor Bridges led in Wards 1, 2, and but his margins there were insufficient to overcome the challenger’s hea vy totals in his two strongpoints. Mr. Rhea led in every ward, with a very heavy margin in ^lis home Ward 5. Mr. Goforth also led in every ward, but his margins were com paratively smaller than Mr. Rhea’s. Comm. Bridges led in all but his home ward, where the chal lenger came off with a 22-vote lead. KIWANIS PROGRAM John L. Richardson, an as sociate of Alexander Tank and Equipment of pharlotte. and an ex-baseball umpire, will speak on “Perils of An Umpire” at Thursday's meeting of the Kiwanis club. The club con venes at 6:45 at the Woman’s club. Ceremonies At 10:30 a. m. Thursday Mayor Glee A. Bridges will complete eight yea is of official duties Thursday morning at 10:30 when he administers oaths of of fice to Kelly Dixon, the success ful challenger, and other newly elected city officials. The ceremonies will be held at City Hall courtroom. Subsequent ly, the new comrqj.ssion is ex pected to convene and organize. Mir. Dixon, Kings Mountain builder, was the unsuccessful Re publican candidate for 11th dis trict U. S. Congressman last No vember. He is also an ordained Baptist minister. It was his first venture into city politics. Other successful candidates who will take their oaths are: Eugene M. Goforth, Ward 2 commissioner, flooring contrac tor, and onetime professional baseball player. Ben H. Bridges, Ward 4 com missioner, only member of the retiring administration to win re-election. Mr. Bridges, savings and loan association executive, has been regarded as the ‘‘strong man” of the commission for the past four years. J. E. (Zip) Rhea, Ward 5 com missioner, concrete manufactur er, who led Tuesday’s balloting. Like Mr. Goforth, Mi;. Rhea was a newcomer to city ‘politics. (Already seated aire two new I commissioners. Ray W. Oline, wild led Ross Alexander or. May 9, was sworn into office May 16, when Mr. Alexander declined to ask a run off. T. J. (Tommy) Ellison, a com missioner four times previously since 1947, also took office May ,16, after his nearest opponent, j Corbet Nicholson, declined to call a run-off. An Editorial New Faces Take City Hall Seats The biennial city election entertainment is now his tory. The winners are smiling happily and preparing to don the mantle of govern mental responsibility for two years. The losers are analyzing the returns, checking their weak spots, and, if not al ready, will decide, as the sure but unforseen head aches begin to plague the city administration in the days ahead, that the losers may actually be the win ners. Changes of faces m public positions such as the voters dictated do not necessarily mean changes in basic dir ection and purpose, only in details. That appears to be the real result of the 1961 vo ting. The Herald anticipates that Mayor Kelly Dixon will work hard at his job and earn whatever salary he is paid, and that the board of commissioners will continue the policy of the past sev eral years in getting as much operational and capi tal improvement mileage out of city revenues as is possible. The Herald pledges its co operation to the newly elec ted administration, congra tulates the winners, and commiserates with the los ers. Optimists Plan Charter Night Hugh Canford, past president of the Charlotte Optimist, will be featured as guest speaker Satur day night when the Optimist Club of Kings Mountain observes Charter Night art 7.30 p. m. at Kings Mountain Woman’s Club. The event will be Ladies’ Night also and leaders of civic and service clubs of Kings Moun tain and their wives have been invited to attend. Also expected to attend are the city mayor and his wife, District 18 Optimist Governor Garland Murray and wife, and Lieuten ant Governor of District 18 Leo nard Leigh and wife. The Gastonia Optimist club, parent organization of the local group, will present the Kings Mountain members with their charter, bell, and gavel. Ed Stowe will preside over the cere mony.