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REHAB UNDERWAY-Reg Alexander of tte KM
Houolng Rehabilitation Program and Mary Dover look
over the rehab work underway at her Bennett Dr.
home. The home U about 100 yean old. Mn. Dover has
lived there ler M>yaan. Mw and her late hnobaad
purchased the house from BurUagton IndnsMes after
Mr. Dover ntlred.
. .A COZY KITCHEN—Mn. Broadus Bailey shows off
her kitchen at her Clonlnger St. home after the rehab
program was rompleted. New windows and wall
cabinets were part of the renovation. The linoleum and
wallpaper was Installed by the Bailey children. The
home was also Insulated and outside walls recovered
and painted.
Housing Rehabilitation
Is It A ‘God-Send’ Or A ‘Rip-Off?’
By EUZABETH STEWART
Staff Writer
The city’s housing rehabilitation
program Is considered a ‘'God
send” by some and “a rip-off,
another federal program down the
drain” by othen.
Community Development
Director Arnold Gurdon-Wrlght and
assistant Reg Alexander are feeling
the pressures of coping with
frustrations of running a federal
program where they have to say no
to so many cltlsens.
This Is the third year of the
Iwuslng rehab program, but to date
only 13 homes have undergone
program financed renovation to
bring them up to code. The first year
the rehab budget totaled ISB.OOO;
second year, 100,000; Md the third,
another $00,000. The actual rehab
budget was approved for $140,000,
but $80,000 goes for admlnlstraUve
costs.
Tlie first two years of the program
saw qualified homes In various
sections of the city receiving at
tention. But now the Department of
Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) has decreed all the homes
considered must be within a specific
target area.
This Is bad news for over 100 KM
home owners who already have
applied and been approved under
the former guidelines. The target
area work becomes effective July 1,
1078 and that area emcompasses a
BOO-home area In the northeast
quadrant of the city. Wright said. If
the city's SmaU ^tles Grant ap-
pUcatlon Is appr. ad, that funding
will also go Into the same target
area. The rehab funding to date has
come from the city’s Community
Development Block Grant program.
This Is the final year of the five-year
program with a final totsU of $888,000
spread over several programs.
The rehab program provides a
maximum funding per project of
$T,B00 to qualifying home ownars.
Guidelines also require that should a
qualifying homeowner need more
than $7,800 worth of renovation done
that they seek loan assistance from
a bank or apply to HUD for a low
Interest loan to cover the overage.
Wright said to date only one of the
la homeowners, Mrs. IJnda Davis of
210 Fulton St., has obtained a bank
loan to complete renovation on her
home. Mrs. Davis, mother of two
smaU chUdren, la also the youngest
dtlBen to have received rehab
funding. The others are low-income
Individuals, senior cltlsena living on
fixed Incomes.
Alexander said ‘‘It Is
very discouraging that In Its third
year the rehab program has only
been able to see work completed on
13 homes. With leas than a one
percent vacancy rate In Kings
Mountain, It Is evident housing Is the
city’s number one problem.”
Wright said about 70 applicants
have passed all guideline criteria
before a full committee - WllUan
Grissom, Corbet Nicholson and
James Childers - "but those ap
plicants will have to be passed over
because of the lack of funds or the
fact they are not In the target area.
We will keep those applications on
file and hope that new federal
programs will be created for this
need.”
And the news even for those In the
target area Is not all that hot. It
could be three or four years before
their homes get attention under the
program.
The rehab crew receives “lots of
flack” concerning the way the
program has been handled, on how
the applicants are selected no
matter In what order they applied.
The home of Mr. and Mrs.
Broadus Bailey, 118 Clonlnger St,
was the only one out of a half a dosen
appUcants In the Margrace area to
receive rehab assistance. Mr. Bailey
la an Invalid and the couple Uvea on
monthly Social Security checks.
“The rehab committee makes
selections based on the most Im
mediate need and health haxards to
occupants,” Alexander said. “Ths
committee looks at such things as
Insulation and wiring. The dif
ference between our rehab program
and that In other cities Is that we ars
emphasizing codes efficiency and
not Just exterior appearance.”
The new rehab target area runs
from Battleground and Piedmont
northwest to the Cansler-Morrls Sts.
Intersection, east to Gantt and
Walker and across Piedmont north
to Baker as far as Benfleld Rd. and
Piedmont, then east to Cleveland
Ave., south to the community
center, and west to Piedmont and
Battleground.
A total of 371 homes are slated for
rehablUtaUon In the target area,
according to Wright, with 17 to be
demolished and 308 to be brought up
to code.
“But,” Wright said, “completion
of this project hinges on the city
being approved for the SmaU Cities
Grant.”
Wright said he Is sure there wUl
stlU be cries of outrage from cltlsena
who have appUed and have been
lyiproved, but are not being selected
for funding. "But, the committee
has truly made every effort to
examine aU the appUcatlons and to
determine which of them are In the
most Immediate need. They have
also determined that only three out
of slU the appUcatlons made were
fraudulent. The rest were legitimate
- and that’s what hurts when we
realize there just Isn’t enough
money to go around.”
Alexander said he feels “that
citizens In the community should be
making themselves heard con
cerning housing. Maybe It Is
ultimately up to them. If they talk
long and hard enough, perhaps
rehabilitation wlU become the top
priority In Kings Mountain.”
60 Foote Employes
Receive Safety Awards
f
PhoOss by Tom McIntyre
. .THE WORK HELPED—Broadus Bailey, an Invalid Uvlng on Social
Security with his wife, commented that the rehab work on their home
helped them cut their heating hills by half.
Sixty employes of Foote Mineral
Company won awards for safety at
the semi-annual safety barbecue
recently and Operations Manager
W.E. Cooke presented awards to
employes for outstanding work
records (or two years, five years, IS
years and 38 years.
Personnel Manager Larry W.
Wood said the program featured an
afternoon of good food, feUowship
and the recognition of employes’
safe work record without a lost-time
accident.
The awards were presented to the
employes by the supervisor of their
work area. Porta-Plg Catering
Service served barbecue with aU the
trimmings.
Johnny C. Jones and WUllam J.
TVimer won 28-year safety awards
and Ronald K. BaUery, W. Roy
Duncan and William L. Etters won
IB-year awards for safety to lead the
honored group. Receiving five-year
awards were Harold C. Thrift,
Robert K. Hamrick, David C. Pruitt,
J.C. Jamison, Horace D. Moore,
Dwan W. Thornburg, Kenneth B.
Plumley, Denise B. Bolin and Harry
R. Hughes.
Two-year safety award recipients
are Manning E. Carroll, Jr., Irene
W. Brittain, Clarence L. Hoyle,
Louise L. McCraw, George . Oaks.
Otis E. Moss, Eugene Johnson, J.T.
Jackson. Dean Ayers, Frankie Bess,
WUbert L. Blddlx, BlUy Bridges,
Danny R. Bryant. Daniel R.
Cochran, Larry B. Deaver, Robert
H. Dixon, James L. Evans, Laura D.
Greene, C. Elaine Guln, Leroy
Hammett, John R. Hamrick, Phillip
R. Harris, John S. Putnam, Robert
E. Hand, Ernest F. Hector, William
E. Jenkins, David M. King, J.
Dennis Martin, James E. McClain,
Jerry F. Morgan, Louise Roberts,
Marlene C. Smith, Debra W.
Sizemore, Donald W. Whitworth,
Jerry F. Wylie, Richard L.
Sutherland, Jerry Webster, Cecil V.
Slpe, William J. Brugess, Betty S.
(Sarrett, Benjamin F. Brown, Jr.,
Charlene T. Sellers, John Costner,
Jr., Martha B. Davidson, (Charles D.
Griffin and Joan S. Stewart.
Local NCAE
Dinner h Set
The Kings Mountain Chapter of
the North Carolina Association of
Educators will hold Its end of school
luncheon Frl., June 8.
The noon luncheon and meeting
will be held In the Kings Mountain
Senior High cafeteria, according to
Gary Shields, local NCAE president.
Scouts Receive National Honor
Troop 01 Boy Scouts of St. Mat
thew's Lutheran Church are
recipients of a National Htmor
Certificate In recognition of out
standing accomplishments during
1070.
It Is the second time the 88-
member troop has won national
recognition. Scoutmaster Tommy
tong said the troop also received a
national award In 1078.
The award Is based on outstanding
work judged In ten categories of
scout activities during the year.
Members will be formally presented
the honor at next month’s Court of
Honor.
The citation Is signed by
representatives of the national and
Piedmont Scouting officials.
Other leaders of Troop 01 are
Assistant Scoutmasters Dmi Griffin,
Wayne Putnam, BUI SeUers, Charles
Herndon and Ronnie Hawkins.
Meets Thursday
The Kings Mountain Board of
Oommlssloners wUl meet Thure.,
May 81 at 7:80 p.m. at city haU.
This new daU lor the regular
second monthly meeting of the
board was set due to Memorial Day
coming this past Monday.
The postponement announcement
came last Thursday, too late for
Inclusion In last Thursday’s Mirror-
Herald.
Summer Story Hour
Summer Story Hour wUl begin at
Jacob S. Mauney Memorial Library
June 18th and continue through Aug.
18th.
Story Hour wUl be conducted for
young people 8-10 from 10:80 untU
11:80 a.m. on Wednesdays, ac
cording to Hazel Fryer, Ubrartan.
Prizes wUl be given (or best at
tendance.
Charity Horse Shoic
The 11th annual Shelby Junior
Woman’s C31ub Charity Horseshow
wlU be held Sat., June 3.
The shows are at noon and 6:80
p.m. at Blanton Memorial Stadium,
Shelby Senior High.
The show wUl Include English,
Western and game points and high
point trophies will be awarded.
AU proceeds go toward the club’s
charity projects.
Tickets are $1 for adults, 80 cents
for chUdren In advance and $1.38 and
78 cents at the gate.
For entry Information, call Mrs.
Kathy Holbrook at 482-4182, or Mrn
Dina Jones, 482-8187.
Bike-A-Thon
Postponed
Because of unseasonably chUly
weather Saturday, the Kings
Mountain Police Department-
sponsored Blke-A-Thon was post
poned.
Chairman Robert Dodge said the
event wUl be rescheduled In about
six weeks.
Eleven bikers reported to the
Kings Mountain Senior High parking
lot to compete In the lO-mUe event.
Chairman Dodge said that bikers
Interested In participating In the
Blke-A-Thon are encouraged to
obtain sponsors and vie for prizes In
the event. All proceeds are ear
marked for St. Jude ChUdren s
Hospital.