^age 2 KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD. KINGS MOUNTAIN. N. C Thursday, February 6, 1969 . Thun Established 1889 The Kings Mountain Heiald A weekly newspaper devoted to the promotion of the general welfare and published for the enlightenment, entertainment and benefit of the citizens of Kings Mountain and its vicinity, published every Thursday by the Herald Publishing House. Entered as second class matter at the post office at Kings Mountain, N. C., 28086 under Act of Congress of March 3, 1873. EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Martin Hannon Editor-Publisher Miss Elizabeth Stewart Circulation Manager and Society Editor Miss Debbie Thornburg Clerk, Bookkeeper Dave Weathers, Supt. MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT Allen Myers Paul JacKson Steve Martin SUBSCRIPTION RATES PAYABLE IN ADVANCE — BY MAIL ANYWHERE ONE YEAR... .$3.50 SIX MONTHS... .$2.00 THREE .MONTHS... .$1.25 PLUS NORTH CAROLINA SALES TAX TELEPHONE NUMBER — 739-5441 TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE IIa]>])y is the inf/n that findoth soisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. Proverbs S:t3. Housing SqueezO A check with realty dealers and builders will confirm quickly the housing squeeze in the Kings Mountain area, as house-seekers, whether wanting to buy or rent, have already found. There’s a minimal number of homes for sale. There are less for rent. Most recent point-in-kind is report from the State Highway Commission to the Mayor on the Cansler street improve ment project, on which bids are to be received this month and which the high way department wants to begin work not later than May 1. Eight residences must be razed to accommodate the project. To date, occu pants of two have found places to live. The other six are stymied, as is the high way department which, too, find no available accommodations for these six families. Those in the business haven’t seen fit to do it and apparently can’t pencil out a modest profit on some needed apartments here. Kings Mountain is about the largest town in the area where apartments virtually are not. A Gastonia builder relates his ex perience with 108 apartments there: they are designed for two groups, newly-wed couples, considered short-term tenants, and elderly couples or Individuals, con sidered long-term tenants. The apart ments are one-bedrOom and rent for .$90 per month unfurnished. (Rentals on fur nished apartments vary according to a- mount of furnishings.) The problem on rentals for several years has been return on investment. Old rule of thumb was that the owner had to have 10 percent return per year to show a normal six percent profit, the ex tra four being used to pay taxes and to maintain the property. With current high interest rates, the rule of thumb may have, of necessity, widened. Thus a $10,000 property woilld re quire a rental of $90 to $100 per month, still high rent in Kings Mountain, the Herald understands, and a figure which would make the tenant a buyer or build er as quickly as he could make the mar ket.. Many homes are needed now. More will be needed as new industry and ex panding industry get on stream. Tax LoopholeB ■rhere are recurrent w'aves in the Congress of movements to remove loop holes in income tax laws whereby the rew ivlll hbt gbt a free ride on April fif teenths, while their brethren are paying tfitbiigh thbir noses. l5epletlon allowances are continual ly attacked and tew go past the word “oil’. Oil, of cour.se, enjoys a 27.5 percent depletion allowance, highest in the sche dule. This was a World War II device to spur production of needed war materials. In the instance of oil, the device succeed ed handsomely. In spite of all the oil used and all of that spilled in the ocean by tanker sinkings. United States prov en oil reserves today are perhaps four times that before Pearl Harbor. The Negro Desire More than 100 Kings Mountain area Negroes gathered Sunday in the rain at Bynum Chapel AME Zion church for a meeting of the Kings Mountain Improve ment Association. Guests included Mayor John Henry Moss, Commissioners W. S. Biddix and Norman King, visiting Negro ministers and members of the press. To refine the elocution: Kings Moun tain Negroes want job opportunities in Kings Mountain retail businesses. Use of the boycott and public dem onstrations was mentioned only in “we don’t want” terms. But the Negroes would like to be come a salesman in a department store, clerk in a bank, etc. From the standpoint of the invita tion to the Negro to spend his improving income at a particular store, the advan tage to the cash register of Negroes on the staff is apparent. Time Magazine re ported recently the success story of Parks Sausage Company, founded by a Negro of the same name. It was a three- man operatioh at the beginning, in Bal timore. Baltimore Negroes asked for Parks Sausage in the supbr markets. In the recent year, the firm grossed over $6 million and netted .$24.^,000. From the standpoint of the retailer, if he thinks right (and most do), he seeks performance. Can the employee do the job? His second point is that he does not have job openings everyday. The Mayor, as he promised, already has been discussing the matter with heads of the Chamber of Commerce and Merchants Association, with a view to a future gathering among all parties. Meantime, high school Negroes should be investigating the courses of fered in distributive education. Commission Agrees With some comments they approved an election, if not a tax imposition of their own as empowered to do, the coun ty commissioners approved Monday re quest of the three schopl districts for a county-wide vote of citizens on question of a 50-cent per $100 valuation ad valor em tax for schools. The tax would be for operations (in schoolese accounting “current e.x- pense”). The school district representatives requested an April 1 election date. Decision on date was deferred, pend ing checking of attorneys. Sideline issues to the supplemental tax would be an $850,000 bond issue and five-cent tax for the Cleveland County Technical Institute. .is.no Question but the county district, without any supplemental op erations tax, is in competitive pain, right at home with Shelby (40 cents, 38 levi ed) and Kings Mountain (20 cents, 20 levied), not to mention other districts throughout the state which have greater wealth and usually greater supplements than the homefolk In Shelby and Kings Mountain districts. The need for the technical institute is apparent, too, even moreso as industry expands and new industries arrive. There is no question about the va lidity of depletion allowances. But per haps the high “C” for oil should be cut to “G”. One shot-at (again) “loophole” is the tax-free status of state and local gov ernment bonds. Washington tVants local level government to do more In provid ing services. Elimination of the tax-free status of bonds would deter in considera ble proportion the ability of local, gov ernments to do what they are attempt ing to do now. Principal objection this newspaper has heard to the tax vote is the matter of date: these folk would like to know what role the State of North Carolina, which supplies probably 85 to 90 per cent of school operational funds, is going to do before voting on the supplemental district tax proposal. There has been some conversation among veteran taxpayers about state ments the districts won’t necessarily levy the maximum allowable. These vet erans of the trip to the tax collector feel by experience that any moratorium would be short-lived. MARTIN'S MEDICINE By MARTIN HARMON I have not discussed with Sen ator Jack White the bill he has introduced in the Senate which he was quoted as saying would "take politics out of liquor in North Carolina and return the question to the people.” m-m I haven’t seen the bill either but I believe what the Senator meant was that it would take the polilics of liquor out of the General Assembly, that is, the in fighting of local wet and dry groups when lUtuor election pro posals are presented to the Gen eral Assembly. m-m Recalling rathe: graphically the liquor election here of 19 months ago. I rather doubt politics and liquor will ever part company. m-m Dr. Harold Kattman, who is di rector of the Hebron Colony, re members it too. He was asked to appear at a dry gathering. He re calls, "I didn’t much like the ar rangements. I was told the rally was to be held at the American Legion building after churches held Wednesday night prayer services. I envisioned myself hold ing a round-table discu.ssion with perhaps 30 or 40 people at most.” Hijacking Je’l' Age REWARD! ^sSO. 000 FOR m*m LEADING TO THE ARREST ANY MR HIJACKER. Letter To Editc To The Editor: HELPING MIDDLE EASTERN PEACE Considerable surprise was in store. It was a standing-room-on ly audience. A collection was lak en to defray Dr. Kattman’s not- great travel expense from Boone. Suggestion was made and agreed j to that overage go to the Hebron | Colony. “Gee,” said Dr. Kattman, ( ”I brought $350 home for the Col- j umns expressed their strong and ony." I unequivocal condemnation of I- raq’s having hanged 14 persons nj.nt j (nine Jews, four Moslem Arabs and one Christian i on what ap- Viewpoints of Other Editors In yesterday's issue these col- Ten Years Ago Items of interest schich orrur- ?d approximately ten years ago PLAIN TALK ON PAYMENTS How public can you get when millions of pr'ople who listened to the Inauguration Ceremony on TV, radio arrd newsfrapers with all the prayers being .said and pub lished? What is our public schools ■ompared to this? The only dif ference is we are all grown up, We have been taught our prayers and most cf tliem in our schools. .Now we don’t h.tve prayer in -rchool. It might lead some one in ihe wrong direction. Well, how are our schools go ing? Since prayer was taken out of our sch’ benefit those lucky Furthermore, even the delay of enough to find apartments with needed rent increases would pro- artifk-ially low rents, though bably weaken the city’s credit, even these tenants suffer since] which already isn’t the nation’s landlords cannot afford adequate soundest. There would be higher maintenance. Other New Yorkers] interests costs on the city’s bor- and would-be New Yorkers are' rowing and even without that, hurt because the competition of the city ig thinking oif soaking rentJcontrolIetl units discourages] taxpayers'still harder as outgo ground in an emotional commun- construction of new apartments sails far above income, ity fight, once each three years is. with moderate rentals. Yes sir, those politicians really quite often enough. I In another version of rent con- know how to befriend people. I presume (hopefully) that t)le hree-year rule respecting liquor referendums is retained. That’s as often as they cin be held. m-m And for a newspaper, oattle- trol. New York’s City Council | Wall Streed i/onrnar Keep Your Radio Dial Set At 1220 WKMT Kings Mountain, N. C. i^e'ws & Weather every hour on the hour. Weather every hour on the half hour. Fine entertainment in between coac staff nati< Blue of t) pre-s first at pi feiTt Leo once and a clt and in a bac) pow Chei fron iljet of tl asa coa