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KIMG? MOUMTWM MIRROR
VOL. 89 NO. 36
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA 28086 TUESDAY, MAY 2,1978
15c
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Rescue Squad Controversy
Facts And Allegations
By TOM McIntyre
Editor, Mirror-Herald
Coming out of a public meeting
laat Wednesday night concerning
rescue and ambulance service In
Kings Mountsdn were some facts-
and some detrimental allegations.
The facts are;
(1) Kings Mountain Emergency
Services ( a second rescue squad) is
chartered;
(2) KMES has a board of directors
and slate of officers;
(3) The squad has a headquarters;
(4) An ambulance ordered to N. C.
State specifications Is being built In
LaGrtmge, Ga. at a cost of <16,392
for the squad Is on order and
delivery Is expected within 30-45
days;
(5) Some Kings Mountlans are
highly dissatisfied with the fees
charged for transport by Kings
SAMPLE
NON-PARTISAN BALLOT
for
Cleveland County Board Of Edu^
INSTRUCTIONS
1 To vote for a candidate oivBWJ^Iot nin'If^iTi iiiiii (X)
mark in the square at the R^^he Candida’s name.
2. If you tear or defac«A wrontfl^^k this ballot, return
it and get anotbe '
For Men
iiand County Board
' Ejucation
nay vote for two)
□
LOU BARRIER
□ DIANE S. HOLLAND
Q ^nSNNVTH A. LEDFORD
Special District Election
rilay 2, 197$
i
Chairman, develand County Board of ElectionB
lUot
Unil
Juc
irs
INSTRUCTIONS
a. To vote for a candidate on the ballot make a
cross 0 mark in the square at the left of his
name.
b. If you tear or deface or wrongly mark this bal-
lot, return it to the registrar and get another.
FOR UNITED STATES SENATOR
(You May Vfile for One)
□ McNEILL SMITH
□ LAWRENCE DAVIS
□ JOSEPH (JOE) FELMET
□ wiLliam b. griffin
□ LUTHER HOOGES
□ JOHN INGRAM
□ DAVID P. (DAVE) McKNIGHT
□ THOMAS B. (TOM) SAWYER
m
FOR ASSO(’IATE .Il'STICE OF
SUPREME COURT
(Von .May Vole for One)
□ ROBERT M. MARTIN
□ WALTER E. BROCK
FOR ASSOf’lATE JUSTICE OF
SUPREME COURT
(^ on \’ot<‘ for Oni*)
□ REGINALD (REX) FRAZIER
□ DAVID M. BRITT
FOR JUDGE OF COURT
OF APPEALS
(VoM May \ ole for Oiia-)
□ RICHARD C. ERWIN
□ AUSTIN B. CAMPBELL
rrliiiary Kleclloa
May 2. I07M
N'orlli Carolina
Chaii-nian, Hlale Itiiard of KlorllnnN
THIS IS
ELECTION
DAY
SAMPLE
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY BALLOT
for
Stote Senote, State House of Repre»
and County Offiflers
INSTSUCniONS
1. T» voli for a oandidate inlM|^croM (X)
mark in the aquare at the^ul^mhe candniSTe*! name.
2. Zf you tear or deface^r wron^^mark this ballot, return
it and get another, d
For MeinSSBC^&tote Senate
lol District
for three)
> MARVIN
□ 'WWafALL A. RAUCH
□ P. WTBAILEY
□ OLLIE HARRIS
For Member Of State House
Of Representatives — 40th District
(You may vote tor three)
□ ROBERT Z. (BOB) FALLS
□ EDITH LEDFORD LOTZ
n ROBERT A (BOB) JONES
□ JOHN J. (JACK) HUNT
For Cleveland County Board
Of Commissioners
(You may vote tor two)
□ J. D. (DOC) TURNER
□ TOMMY P. BRIDGES
□ C. M PEELER, JR.
□ DAVID M. (PETE) STAMEY
□ L E. (JOSH) HINNANT
For Coroner
(You may vote for one)
□ BENNETT J, MASTERS
□ DWIGHT TESSNEER
For Sheriff
(You may vote tor one)
□ J. HAYWOOD ALLEN
□ CHARLES L. PEELER
PRIMARY njDCnON
May 1, 197$
Chatnnin, Qeveland County Board of Bectlona
Mountain Rescue Squad;
(6) At least one County Com
missioner Is on record as being In
‘‘verbal and financial” support of
Kings Mountain Emergency Ser
vices ‘‘If it proves as an all volunteer
organization It can get the Job
done.”
(7) The same commissioner will,
If the above proves true, use his
Influence with the county board to
get KMES a franchise to operate in
the Kings Mountain Rescue District.
‘Die allegations are that many
people who cannot afford to pay for
ambulance transports are being
charged; that callers are being
asked In advance whether they can
pay for the service or not; that
service Is slower or poorer than
prior to the paid-personnel system;
that some callers are being turned
down for service; that gar
nishment proceedings are
harrasslng people who can’t afford
to pay for transport service; and
that members disagreeing with the
fee policy are being harrassed Into
quitting.
County Commissioner L. E.
(Josh) Hlnnant appeared at last
Wednesday's meeting at the Kings
Mountain Community Center to
"clear up” what he termed
misunderstandings on the part of the
people concerning the county's role
In ambulance service In Kings
Mountsdn.
"The county commissioners have
been chewed out about tsdclng over
the Kings Mountain Rescue Squad
and Its equipment smd charging
people fees for ambulance tran
sportation,” Hinnsuit said. "I wsuit
you to know the county has not tsdcen
over anything. In fact we don’t wsuit
any part of the rescue and am-
bulsuice service in the county.”
He ssdd the state of North Carolina
didn’t give the county smy choice In
being responsible for fulltime
ambulance service on July 1, 1977.
He sstld there are three ways to have
an ambulsuice service, by tsuc fun
ding, by chsu-ges for transport, or by
Eui sUl volunteer method.
"The county manager (Joe
Hendricks) began negotiating with
all five of the units In the county to
determine If they would continue
serving as before or what It would
take to continue service.”
Kings Mountain and Shelby
reported back they could not
maintain daytime service without
fUUtlme paid personnel. Grover,
Bolling Springs and Upper
CleveUuid units chose to continue as
volunteer units with no paid per
sonnel smd no charge for trsuisports.
Hlnnant, while he personally
would rather see an all volunteer
rescue unit, defended the charge
system because "the money to pay
the salaries and operating expenses
has to come from somewhere.”
The commissioner also said that
the two units charging transport fees
were Instructed to use their own
Judgment as to whether or not a
person being transported could pay
the fee before submitting bills to the
County Emergency Services offices.
Also not to charge heavy con
tributors to the rescue squads nor
elderly persons without Insurance
coverage.
When questioned about what right
the head of the Kings Mountain
Rescue Squad had to negotiate with
the county on a fee schedule to use
the equipment and building bought
and paid for by public donations,
Hlnnant replied that the com
missioners accepted whatever
terms the rescue units wanted,
"which were voted on by that unit's
board of directors. It wasn't a
matter of one man making up the
rules.”
Some audience members present
argued that the Kings Mountain
Rescue Squad building and
equipment belongs to the people oi
Kings Mountain and not to the men
now running the service, and asked
how the people could go about
getting It back.
Hinnant said the county has not
taken over the building nor the
equipment. "The county owns one
ambulance, which we purchased for
Kings Mountain last year,” he said.
Mickey Corry, attorney for Kings
Mountain Emergency Services said
the building and equipment belongs
to Kings Mountain Rescue Squad.
”If the county should franchise the
new unit and the first unit's fran-
(Turn To Page 3)
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Photo By Tom McBM.vre
KM ROTARY SPEAKER — Ledford Austin, regional -ctlng director af
the Department of Housing and UrtM$a O.'.vetenme'n In North OaroUn^,
gave Kings Mountain Rotarlons a brief outline of the various funding
programs since the first Congressional action in 1937 Thursday.
These Are Best
And Worst Times
By TOM McIntyre
Editor, Mirror-Herald
These are the best and worst of the
times.
Charles Dickens penned that line
in one of his novels and Ledford
Austin repeated It Thursday to
underline the Department of
Housing and Urban Development's
viewpoint of housing In America
today.
Austin, a native of Lenoir, Is ac
ting regional director of HUD In
Greensboro. He was spesiklng to the
Kings Mountain Rotary (Jlub.
“What Is HUD doing about the
housing situation?" he asked. "Ride
through Kings Mountain and you get
a good Idea of what is being done.”
Austin gave the Rotarlans the
background on public housing,
stating It began with one of Franklin
D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats. "He
said the people are ‘Ul-fed, 111-
clothed and Ill-housed.' In 1937 the
Congress created the Federal
Housing Administration.”
Austin said this Is a “bread and
butter program," and that It Is
primarily geared to assist people
who want to own their own home.
The Federal Housing Ad
ministration not only helped
Americans buy homes, but paid
them a dividend when the loan was
repaid.
He said this progrsun did not
answer the needs of the low Income
Americans and In 1939 Congress
enacted the first low rent housing
laws. There were amendments
added In 1949 and again In 1964.
"Out of those two laws there came
urban renewal, open spaces and
neighborhood beautification fun
ding,” Austin said. "These
programs continued until 1974 when
sJl of the categorical programs were
abolished. In their place came
Community Development Block
Grants.”
Austin said the CD program was
designed to allow the participating
communities have more say-so on
where and how the funding should be
spent. Instead of having the federal
guidelines spell out specifically what
the money was to be used (or.
Kings Mountain was one of the few
communities In North Carolina
ruled eligible to receive CD funds.
The city was termed a "hold harm
less” community and received
$4,160,000 to be funded over a five
year period. “Hold Harmless”
comes from the fact the city had on
going programs In the works on
which a portion of each year’s
allocation could be spent.
“Due to the foresight of the
leadership In Kings Mountain,”
Austin said, ‘‘the city was assured of
getting the CD money.”
He said the CD programs stipulate
that maximum feasible attention be
paid to housing, but that during the
first three years of the funding HUD
took a liberal viewpoint. Austin said
the final two years of funding will
see more emphasis placed on
housing before applications are
sqjproved.
"And as CD phases out the federal
government has come up with the
Small Cities programs,” he said. "It
Is really a continuation of the CD
program, but with wider latitude on
the local level. One of the Small
(3tles funding programs Is for a
three-year period. HUD tsdces the
posture that only five or six cities
ruled eligible will be funded for
three years.”
Kings Mountain will seek one of
the comprehensive three year
programs.
Austin also touched on the Urban
Development Action Grants
(UDAG) program, which Kings
Mountain has also been ruled
eligible to seek. Under the UDAG
program the revitalization of the
city’s business community Is the
theme. The Small Cities grant will
be geared toward the revitalization
of a neighborhood.
Section Eight Housing Is another
program HUD Is fond of now. ac
cording to Austin. This program
Involves the private builder as well
as federal funding. Under this
program the builder can build and
serve as manager or negotiate with
a private agency or a local housing
authority to manage the housing
complex.
Austin said, "All of these
programs puts HUD Into a closer
partnership with the community. 1
hope our relationship can remain a
cooperative one.”
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