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Population
Greater Kings Mountain 10,320
City Limits 8,008
This figure lor Greater Kings Mountain is derived from
the 1955 Kings Mountain city directory census. The city
limits figure is from the United States census of 1960.
Kings Mountain's Reliable Newspaper
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VOL, 73 No. 25
Established 1889
Kings Mountain, N. C., Thursday, June 21, 1962
Seventy-Third Year
PRICE TEN CENTS
Week s Vacation Near For Most Textile Employees
Surplus For Year Of $66,000
Local News
Bulletins
f —1
UNION SERVICE
I Sunday night’s union service
will be held at Central Metho
dist church with Rev. Hubert
Garmon, pastor, to deliver the
message at 8 o’clock.
GUARDSMEN AT CAMP
Kings Mountain National
Guardsmen are at Fort Bragg
for the annual two-week en
campment. The Kings Moun
tain unit, headed by Captain
Humes Houston, left Sunday.
340 LOADS DEBRIS
City public works depart
ment crewmen hauled 340
loads of debris, aftermath of
the May 27 tornado, from city
residences through Saturday,
Superintendent Grady Yelton
reported. This was exclusive of
debris removed by private con
cerns and individuals.
LEGION AUXILIARY
Otis D. Green Post 155, the
American Legion Auxiliary,
has postponed its meeting reg
larly scheduled for this Thurs
day until Thursday, July 5th.
Mrs. P. G. Ratterree will be
hostess at her home.
PAIR VIEW LODGE
■ An emergent' oommtnttC9>ti«tv
' of Fairview Lodge 330 AF&AM
will be held Monday night at
7:30 at Masonic Hall, accord
ing to announcement by Tho
mas D. Tindall, secretary.
KIWANIS PICNIC
Kings Mountain Kiwanians
and their families will picnic
at Lake Montonia Thursday.
If will be the regular weekly
meeting of the civic club.
METER RECEIPTS
Parking meter receipts for
the week ending Wednesday
totaled $151.80, including
$110.80 from on-street meters,
$23.75 from over-parking fees
and $17.25 from off-street
meters.
NO FIRES
City firemen reported Wed
nesday morning the depart
ment had no alarms during
the past week.
OPTIMISTS MEET
Members of the Optimist
Club of Kings Mountain will
meet in regular weekly session
Thursday at 7:00 p. m. at the
Cottonwood Restaurant on
Highway 29.
iArichxtects Stymied
Until Site Chosen
Fred Van Wageningen, of
Architects Associated, retained
by the board of education to
plan the projected area high
school, said Wednesday, "We
can’t do a single thing until
the site is chosen."
‘‘First we must know the
site, get contours, know the
approaches,” the architect am
plified.
Unless the architects guess
ed correctly and final site de
cision of the board, advance
drawing of plans would be
sheer waste, he noted.
With a limited budget as is
true in the Kings Mountain
and majority of school build
ing projects, he continued, a
variance in cost of site and its
development of $50,000 or
$100,000 would mean that
I much more or less building,
% the architect concluded.
“We’re anxious to get under
way just as quickly as your
board reaches a decision,” he
concluded.
AHP's Postpone
i Special Service
Tire special service which
I was to have been held at the
I new Boyce Memorial ARP
” church Education al Building
<qn Sunday has been postponed
I due to construction on Edge
rant Drive. . .
Dr. W. L. Presriy, pastor,
said that further announce
Indicated Gas
System Profit 1
Also $66,000
By MARTIN HARMON
Oity Olerk J. H. McDaniel, Jr.,
anticipates a general 'budget sur
plus of approximately $66,000
and a gas system gross operat
ing profit of about the same a- .
mount for the year ending June i
30th.
Mr. (McDaniel made the esti- i
mates Wednesday in analysing i
the revised budgets the board of i
commissioners adopted last week,
two weeks prior to the end of j
the fiscal year.
The general fund cash surplus i
Should accrue, he says, from un- j
der - estimation of receipts by
$34,000 and net under - spending ■
by departments of $32,000.
Receipts now are $746,000, as
opposed to the $712,000 estimated,
with major excesses in anticipa-j
ted receipts derived from: taxes;
$10,000; 'back taxes $2,000; utili-l
ties $15,000; street assessments1
$6,500; Powell bill street fund
$1,500; and sale of cemetery lots
and grave-digginig fees $1,800.
Under-spendings include: street
department $8,000; electrical de- !
partment $15,000; debt service ;
$6,000; and capital outlay $10,- j
000.
Mr. McDaniel commented, “I j
hope my surplus estimates are
conservative and believe that :
they are.”
The amended gas budget esti- j
mates gross receipts at $187,302 j
versus operating costs of $120.
000, for a gross operating profit
of $67,000.
These figures indicate that, re
spectag the call requirement on
gas system bonds, the bonded
debt of the gas system, $228,000
today, will be reduced (by a mini
mum of $60,000 to $168,000 dur
ing the fiscal year starting July
1.
Moose To Enroll
2,000 Members
Announcement was made re
cently by North Carolina Moose
State Director, W. A. Moon of
Pfaftown, that plans are com
plete for gigantic class enroll
ments of 2,000 new members in
to the Loyal Order of Moose on
Sunday, June 24.
“Our 76 lodges in North Car
olina, involving 26,000 members,
will send their candidates into
three major Moose lodges in the
East, Central, and Western part
of the State on that day,” he
said.
The focal points are Green
ville, Shelby, and Winston-Salem.
Local lodges are planning huge
motorcades. The ceremonies will
begin in each place at 2 p. m.,
Sunday afternoon, with champ
ionship ritual teams conferring
the degree. The enrollment will
be followed by an extravaganza
party for sponsors of candidates.
Moon said these tremendous
enrollments are planned as a
prelude to the Moose Internation
al convention in Atlanta, Ga., to
begin June 30. Many Supreme
Lodge officers will visit North
Carolina, June 24, among them
Supreme Secretary Carl Weis, of
Moosehart, 111.; Past Supreme
Governor J. Jack Stoehr, Pitts
burg, Pr.; Supreme Governor
Harry C. Byrd, College Park,
Md.; Supreme CounciImen PhilUp
R. Morse, doming, N. Y., George
^Continued On Page Ten)
Shots No. Elixir
Yes At Minette
About 98 percent of the em
ployees of Minefte Mills, Inc., of
Grover, and their dependents
have taken advantage of the
company’s offer for oral-type po
lio vaccine, a liquid, free, Presi
dent Franklin Harry said Wed
nesday.
Mr. Harry, expressing himself
as highly pleased at the result
noted the effects of polio on the
Harry family in prior years and
added, “We thought the effort
would do the community good."
Two years ago Minette made a
similar Offer of Salk vaccine, ad
ministered via hypodermic, with
not too favorable results.
To a suggestion that parents
declined to do what they requir
ed of their youngsters, Mr. Harry
laughed, “Looks like that’s a
bout it"
City Asks Upped
Gas Allotment
RULINGS - Via rulings of an
assistant attorney-general, Elsie
L. Putnam, top, is assured of e
lection as a Justice the peace as;
s Republican, and Bob Maner*s
name will appear on the general
election ballot as a GOP candi
date for the county board of ed
ucation.
Putnam Is In",
Maner On Ballot
Blzie Lee Putnam, Kings
Mountain garageman, will ap
parently become one of the
county’s first Republican office
holders in many years following
the November general election.
On basis of an opinion of As
sistant Attorney-General James
F\ Bullock sufficient vacancies
exist in the number of justices
of the peace legally permitted
Number 4 Township to assure
both the election of Incumbent
I. Lee Roberts, Democrat, and
Mr. Putnam, only two candi
dates.
Some citizens had opined the
two would oppose each other.
Additionally, also via Mr.
Bullock’s opinion, arrived at, he
wrote County Elections Board
CThairman Ralph Gilbert, after
conferring with Raymond Max
well, chairman of the state elec
tions board, the name of Bob
Maner, another Kings Mountain
Republican who is his party’s
nominee for the county board of
education, will also appear on
the ballot.
Here the ruling is less clear,
Bullock stating Maner will run
against the field.
Chairman Gilbert’s interpreta
tion is that Mr. Maner is the
GOP slate, while the five Dem
ocratic nominees make up the
Democratic slate and that the
contest wifll be slate vs slate. In
other words, Chairman Gilbert
says, a voter may choose be
tween the five Democrats and
lone Republican, not vote for!
four Democrats and Mr. Maner.
Chairman Gilbert says he has
stud'ed the election laws and in
of the opinion that Cleveland’s
board of education is not elected,
"out appointed by the General
Assembly.
Both Putnam and Maner ex
pressed themselves as pleased
with the ruling to date.
Both are among Republican
candidates seeking county offi
ces ter the first tUne since 1MB.
City Will Need
500 MCF More.
Transco Told
By MARTIN HARMON
The City of Kings Mountain
lias taken initial steps to obtain
Mi increase in its daily natural
gas allotment of 500,000 cubic
feet per day.
Mayor Kelly Dixon, pointing
out increased residential use of
gas, two new firm industrial us
;rs, and increased consumption
by Kings Mountain Mica Compa
ny, a third firm industrial cus
tomer, has informed Transconti
nental Gas Pipe Line Corporation
that the city gas system won't
be able to meet its demand for
Che coming winter Without an al
lotment increase.
Supporting data on 1961-62 op
erations shows that the gas sys
tem reached a new peak demand
if 1,184,000 cubic feet on Janu
ary 11, at a mean temperature of
19 degrees, against an allocation
of 1,400,000 cubic feet per day.
The Mayor requests the allot
hjcpwae-v. -be, made availa
ble November :l and also requests
another additional allotment of
100,000 cubic feet daily effective
a year later, November 1, 1963,
in anticipation of continued in
crease in demand by residential
users.
The supporting data Shows the
city gas system has currently 775
residential heating customers,
112 commercial heating custo
mers, 36 public customers, and
five firm industrial users.
Anticipated during the next 12
months are increase of 125 resi
iential heating customers and
Dive commercial heating custo
mers, in addition to the two new
industrial users, Craftspun, Inc.,
and Shannon, Ltd.
The amended 1961-62 gas sys
tern budget, adopted by the board
at commissioners last week, al
so lends credence to the request.
Anticipated receipts of $187,302
compare to gross receipts last
year of $17,000.
While Transco’s committments
are subject to approval of the
Federal Power commission, it is
customary for Transco to initiate
the request with the commission,
a Transco engineer, Howard R.
Scranton, said here recently.
“We certainly don’t want to be
in the position of not being able
to supply our gas customers,
Mayor Dixon commented Wed
nesday.
School Counselor
WilMam J. Kay was employed
as high school guidance counselor
Monday by board of education
members.
Mr. Kay, who graduated from
Furman University with a B. A.
degree in sociology, holds a mas
ter’s degree in guidance from
Western Carolina College.
He taught guidance in the Bre
vard city schools from 1958 un
til 1962.
He has also taught guidance
programs in several other North
and South Carolina schools.
Mrs. Doris B. Kay, wife of Mr.
Kay, was also employed by the
board as a high school English
teacher.
;<v -. ' I
A graduate of Erskine College
with an A. B. degree in English
and social sciences, she holds a
master’s degree from Furman
University.
She has taught in several high
schools, and for the past several
years at Brevard college.
Supt. & N. Barnes told the
board there remains some 15 va
cancies in the school system, and
efforts are being made to secure
teachers for these jobs.
The board authorized the sup
erintendent to proceed with hir
ing the teachers without the lor
mality «C a beard meeting.
Tentative Tax
Rate Is $1.50
For Sixth Year
The board of commissioners
last week set the tentative city
tax rate at $1.50 per $100 proper
ty valuations, same rate prevail
ing since 1957.
The $1.50 rate includes the
maximum allowable five-oent
levy for recreational purposes.
At its regular June session,
the board listened to a request
by Sam R. Siiber, superintendent
of city-owned Mountain Rest ce
metery, for erection of a memo
rial bell tower in the cemetery.
Mr. Suber pointed out that mo
nies are available in the city's
perpetual care fund and would
not impair the city budget,
meanwhile adding to the. artis
tic and cultural 'beauty of the
cemetery.
The commission questioned the
legality of expenditure of the
funds for this purpose and in
structed City Attorney J. R. Da
vis to request a ruling from the
North Carolina attorney general.
Another request the commis
sion took under advisement was
for establishment of a youth
center, the request being made
by Clarence E. Carpenter. It was
noted such a program could be
included in activities of the rec
reation program.
In other actions, the board:
1) Adopted without change for
the coming year the privilege li
cense ordinace.
2) Reduced to 25 miles per
hour the speed limit on Mauney
avenue.
3) Authorized the Mayor to
circulate a petition for construc
tion of curbing and gutter on
Linwogd street, from Highway.
161 to cfty limits.
4) Instructed the Mayor and
Electrical Superintendent to
give a cost report on installation
of a street light on Monroe ave
nue.
5 Adopted an ordinance autho
rizing post-July 1 operations on
basis the current year's budget,
pending final adoption of the
1962-63 budget.
Knitting Finn
In Production
(Production is beginning at
Cr-aftspun Yams, Inc., knitting
plant, the large new building on
Din wood street.
Manager Robert Lowe said 50
knitting machines are now in
place, some in operation.
Several new employees began
work Wednesday.
The knitting division anticipa
tes employing from 50 to 60 per
sons when in full production.
Rig For Drilling
Is Hard To Find
Board To Ask
40-Cent Levy
For Budding
School officials Wednesday af
ternoon were still seeking to rent
immediately available drilling e
quipment to determine depth
and type of rock formations on
two of three prospective high
school sites under major con
sideration.
Specifically, being sought are
1) an air compressor of suffici
ent size which could be used
with a Foote Mineral Company
driLl the mining firm has proffer
ed, or 2) an air track, described
as a combination drill and com
pressor. Local mining officials
say rental on either would be!
comparable.
The officials were informed
Monday by Earl Van Horn, re-j
tained geologist, that drilling;
rigs such as those employed by j
Southeastern Diamond Drilling1
Company, which surveyed the)
drilling areas last weekend are
unnecessarily expensive for the
work at hand.
Meantime, the education board
Monday night approved a mea
sure asking the board of county
commissioners to begin levying,
effective July 1, the 40 cents per
hundred valuation school bond
tax passed by vote on March 10.
The board anticipates that
sale of the bond Issue will begin
before the end of the., year.. J.Vj
The tax levy is sfubject to ap
proval by the county commis
sion board, and would raise the
speciall Kings Mountain School
district levy to 60 cents per hun
dred valuation.
The district has heretofore
been paying a 20 cents per hun
dred levy as a supplementary
school tax, the funds used to
supplement teachers’ salaries
and employ extra teaching per
sonnel.
In other action the board:
1) Voted to pay $1550 to the
county board of education as the
balance due on the principal of
schools’ residence in Grover. The
county school system built the 1
principal’s dwelling some years
ago and has been applying the
rental fee to defer the balance.
The system will be continued
by the city school board.
2) Voted a resolution of appre
ciation to teachers who are re
tiring from positions in the city
school system.
3) Voted a contract to Pied
Piper Exterminating Company to
do termite control work in j
(Continued On Page Ten)
Dilling Oak Felled By Tornado
May 27, Heie For 118 Birthdays
BY DAVID BAITY
A silent sentinel stands no
more, 'the victim of Mother Na
ture’s eternal cycle.
After 118 years of growth, the
oak tree In the corner of the
Percy Dilling yard was clipped
by the tornadic winds three
weeks ago. But it did not give
up completely, tenaciously hold
ing on with its deep-seated roots.
The base of the tree remained
partially in the ground.
History is written in the rings
of a tree, history of a dramatic
struggle for survival. Abundant
years are there, and lean ones.
The old Kings Mountain land
mark recorded 118 birthdays in
all, according to a count by T. C.
McKee, a member of Kings
Mountain fire department.
McKee has an abiding interest
in relics and antiques and be
came curious about what the
tree would tell. Examining the
rings with a magnifying glass
he found that the tree’s 26th year
was a mean year for rain. The
27th was wetter, the 28th a lit
tle better. The next six years
were abundant with water, the
five after that only average.
Two wet years followed, then
an extremely dry one. Six years
abundant with water followed
then an 18 year span with only
average rainfall before a really
wet year occurred again.
The tree rings tell the story
of a s-appjing growing into a ma
ture tree, and also of some evem
44 years ago (about the end oi
World War I) that caused the
tree to become diseased. The
death grip was an, now it was s
matter of time.
The end came with the high1
wind May 27.
But 44 years of infirmity was
enough to include the end of
World War I, the beginning and
end of World War II and the Ko
rean War, the atomic bomb, mo
dern cars, airplanes crisscrossing
the skies above, and men in
vading outer space.
The tree was standing before
the town came. It sprang from '
the ground as a tender shoot a- l
bout the year 1844. <
(Continued On Page Ten) j
Hardin Hites
To Be Friday
M. I. Hardin, 61, Minette Mills (
I overseer, died at his home in !
Grover Wednesday morning fol- i
lowing a heart attack. I
Mr. Hardin, on vacation, had
returned home this week from 1
i Florida. >
A son of the late Mr. and Mrs. <
James Hardin, he was a member
and elder of Shiloh Presbyterian i
church and member of Grover ;
Masonic lodge.
Surviving are his wife, Mrs. ;
Elzie Dixon Hardin; a son. Jack
Hardin of Charlotte; a brother, <
V. J. Hardin of Grover; a sister,
Mrs. J. W. Pries ter of Grover andk'
three grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held
Friday afternoon at 3 o'clock at (
Shiloh Presbyterian church. ,
The rites will be conducted by
Bev. Richard Hobson, with in
terment in Grover cemetery.
i
GRADUATES--Norma Kay Ham
rick and Rev. Harry R. Sellers
are among area students who
have graduated in college com
mencement exercises this month.
Miss Hamrick,
Sellers Graduate
Two additional Kings Moun
tain students received college de
grees in recent commencement
exercises.
Miss Norma Kay Hamrick,
daughter of Mr. and Mn. David
R. Hamrick, was graduated with
B. A. degree in elementary edu
cation from Guilford college.!
Miss Hamrick has joined tiiej
staff of Luxford School in Prin-i
cess Anne, Virginia.
Harry R. Sellers, who is mar
ried to the former Lyna Baker of
Kings Mounatin, was graduated
from Duke University Divinity
School where he received his
bachelor of divinity degree. Rev.
Mr. Sellers has been appointed
by the Western North Carolina
Methodist Conference to serve a
Hot Springs, N. C. Methodist
charge. Rev. and Mrs.' Seller
have moved to Hot Springs. Mrs.
Sellers is a daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. W. D. Baker of Kings Moun
tain.
Rites Conducted
Foi Mis. Ware
Funeral services for Mrs. Lu
venda Early Ware were conduc
ted Monday -at 4:00 p. m. from
Central Methodist Church, the
Rev. Herbert Garmon, officiat
ing.
Interment followed in Moun
tain Rest cemetery.
(Mots. Ware, a resident of 500:
Rhodes Avenue, was the widow
of Horace Greely Ware, a form-!
er Kings Mountain policeman.1
She died at 9:00 p. m. Saturday
In Kings Mountain hospital fol
lowing a several months illness.;
She was a daughter of the late'
Mr. and Mrs. L. P. Early and'
a member of Central Methoddist;
Church.
Survivors include seven sons,:
Cicero, Ralph G.. Boyce, and L.
P. Ware, all of Kings Mountain;
Lexter Ware, of Ozona, Fla.;
Fred W. Ware, of Clearwater,
Fla.; and James Browning Ware
of Dunedin, Fla.; two daughters,
Mrs. John Bennett, of Albemar
le, and Mrs. Ernest Yates, of
flings Mountain.
Also surviving are two broth
ers, Lloyd and Augustus Early,
of Kings Mountain; a sister. Mrs.
Metta Early Tisdale, of Grady.
Alabama, sixteen grandchildren,
and tweOve great - grandchildren.
Paid Holiday
Is In Store
For Many Folk
A July Fourth week vacation
awaits the vast majority of
Kings Mountain textile employ
ees and for many it will be a
paid vacation.
With a few exceptions, major
ity of Kings Mountain area tex
tile firms will suspend opera
tions on June 30, resuming on
July 9, a Herald survey revealed
Wednesday.
The major exceptions of those
contacted are:
Minette Mills, Inc., of Grover,
which began vacation schedules
this week on a staggered basia
by reducing to a two-shift opera
tion.
Lambeth Rope Corporation
which will invite employees to
work if they wish, grant the
week’s surcrease to those who
don’t. Employees who vacation
will get a week’s pay. Those who
work will get double pay, Gen
eral Manager Frank Burke said.
Carolina Throwing will follow
regular around-the-clock sche
dules.
Mauney Hosiery Company,
fnc., will operate largely on reg
ular schedule, will grant some
of its employees a two-day holi
day on July 4 and 5.
The knitting division of Graft
spun Yarn', Inc., just getting in
to production, will operate on
regular schedule.
Kings Mountain Manufactur
ing Company plans no holiday,
will operate if business is suffi
cient:, according to Aubrey Maun
ey.
Otherwise, the June 30-July 9
vacaJibn applies to employees
of:
Craftspun Yarns, Inc., Spinning
mill, with percentage of earn
ings vacation pay.
Phenix Plant of Burlington In
dustries, with percentage of
earnings vacation pay.
Noisier division of Massachu
setts Mohair Plush Company.
Sadie Cotton Mills and Maun
ey Mills, Inc., with decision not
reached on vacation pay.
Park Yarn Mills, with percent
age of earnings vacation' pay".
Estimate Not Far
Out-Of-Balance
Barring additions of other pro
jects or other costs, preliminary
estimates of the city Budget for
the coming year aren’t far out
of-balance, with the inclusion of
an anticipated $66,000 surplus.
City Clerk Joe McDaniel, Jr.r
had previously said departmen
tal spending requests were $80,
000 over estimated receipts--min
us any surplus which might
prove available.
Included, too, was a quite ma
jor capita] outlay item, $75,000
for first-phase rebuilding of the
electrical distribution system.
One omission in the prelim
inary figures: no capital outlay
appropriation for improvements
to city stadium, about which
there has been much conversa
tion and preliminary planning
for the past 12 months. Basic
recommendations include build
ing of a dressing facilities for
players, rest room improvements
for fans, and opening of Moun
tain street to Carpenter street
Mayor Kelly Dixon reported
Wednesday that H. R. Parton has
conveyed the city a 40-foot right
of-way deed from Carpenter
street west a distance of 238 feet
to the R. D. Goforth property
line.
The board of commissioners
has named Mayor Dixon, Clerk
McDaniel, Commissioner Ben H.
Bridges and J. E. Rhea as a bud
get committee to bring final
recommendations.
Optimist Benefit
Set For Friday
Kings Mountain Optimist
club will sponsor a benefit bar
becue all day Friday, proceeds
to go to the club’s extensive
program of Boys Work in the
community.
Harold Phillips, spokesman
for the club, said barbecue pla
tes will be served at $1.25 for
adults and 75 cents for child
ren from 10 a. m. Friday mor
ning until 10 p. m. Friday
night at the American Legion
Building.
Hie Optimists currently field
a Little League baseball team
plus tour Midget football teams
and render other services ii»
oamneetian with a program for
boys to the community.