VOLUME 95, NUMBER 29
Foote
To Close
1 Plant
Foote Mineral Company an-
nounced today that it will tem-
porarily suspend operations of its
lithium carbonate plant in Kings
Mountain effective July 30.
Employees effected by the
temporary layoff will continue
to be provided major fringe
benefits, fully paid by the com-
pany. The mine and mill will
continue to operate.
The temporary suspension of
lithium carbonate production at
Kings Mountain will permit in-
ventory reduction, however, the
company will continue to pro-
duce lithium carbonate at its
Silver Peak, Nevada, plant.
Personnel Manager Larry
Wood said the exact number of
employees to be effected is not
yet known. He had meetings
scheduled with employees all
day today.
Unidentified
Body Found
The body of a white male was
discovered Tuesday at the KOA
Campground. It was sent to
Chapel Hill for an autopsy,
where officials are trying to
_ determine the identity.
The Kings Mountain Police
Department reported the follow-
ing incidents:
On July 7 Dennis A. Knebal
of Ceder Court, Georgia,
~ reported suitcases taken from his
car while it was parked at the
Holiday Inn. Value was
estimated at $920. Rdiph Grin a :
Harold Lineberger, who holds
one of the two outside-city seats
on the Kings Mountain District
Schools Board of Education,
plans to resign his position
within two to three months.
A farmer, Lineberger plans to
move to Dallas where he will
operate a 22-acre strawberry
farm which had been managed
for years by his father, Graham
Lineberger, who died last year.
The Lineberger family is in
the process of building a new
home in Dallas and will move as
soon as construction is com-
pleted. He said he plans to re-
main on the board of education
until the move.
Lineberger has over three
years remaining on his six-year
term, which he won in a close
battle with Paul Hord Jr. in
1979. Lineberger polled 672
votes to 596 for Hord and 170
Repairing Dam Will Cos
THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1982
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH
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Kings Mountain $440,000
By GARY STEWART
Editor
Repairs to the dam at Moss
Lake will cost the city of Kings
Mountain $440,000, according
to Ralph Johnson, engineer with
the W.K. Dickson Company.
Johnson presented a detailed
plan to the board of commis-
sioners Monday night which will
bring the city into compliance
with current federal and state
guidelines.
The State Department of
EXPLAINS PLANS - Ralph Johnson of the
WK. Dickson Company shows Kings Moun-
tain commissioners ‘a tough ; drawing of
er oi
for Bill Moss. |
Although it ‘is customary for
governing bodies to appoint the
next highest vote-getter when
members resign, there is ap-
parently a move underway to en-
courage the board to appoint
Myers Hambright Sr., a retired
school teacher, to Lineberger’s
seat.
Hambright last week received
an edorsement from the
Bethware Progressive Club’s
board of directors. Jack Har-
mon, president of the club, said
the matter will be taken before
the full membership Monday
night.
“I understand there is some
agitation going on behind the
scenes as to who they’ll
appoint,” Lineberger said. “I'm
going to try to stay neutral. It
wouldn’t be appropriate for me
to help pick my successor. But
Two Speak
Only two citizens spoke out
Monday night at the second and
final public hearing for input in-
to how the city should spend
future Community Develop-
ment Block Grant money.
William C. Kelly asked the
Board of Commissioners to con-
sider constructing sidewalks in
the East Elementary School area
and Carl Wiesener presented a
petition on behalf of citizens of
the Gaston and Mountain Street
areas asking the board to make a
new entrance to City Stadium
and close the one on Gaston
Street.
Mayor John Henry Moss said
both requests would be con-
sidered and possibly entered into
grant applications which must be
filed by July 30. Any items to be
entered into the applications will
be approved at the meeting of
the board of commissioners on
Mon., July 26.
Kelly said he would like to see
sidewalks constructed at East
‘School for the safety of children
who walk to and from school.
“There haven’t been any
sidewalks there since Glee
Bridges and Garland Still were
mayor,” Kelly said. “You’re go-
ing to wait until somebody gets
killed and then say ‘we should
have done that’ but it'll be too
late.”
Kelly also questioned if the ci-
ty was “applying for funds to im-
prove the Moss Lake dam”.
Mayor Moss said “probably.”
“Are the plans already in so-
meone’s hands?”, Kelly added.
“They will be presented
tonight,” Moss answered.
The plans for repairing the
dam were presented by Engineer
Ralph D. Johnson Jr. of the
W.K. Dickson Company after
the close of the public hearing.
Wiesener’s petition carried the
names of 26 residents of Gaston
Street from Highway 74 to East
Gold, and residents of Mountain
Street from Piedmont Avenue to
Gaston.
The signatures, which
Wiesener said represented 95
~ HAROLD LINEBERGER
it’s really going to be a plum for
whoever is appointed. He
doesn’t have to run for election.
percent of the residents of the
area, asked the board to close the
entrance to City Stadium
because of noise, trash and park-
ing problems.
Wiesener suggested that the
city purchase some land at the
south end of the stadium from
David Mauney and turn it into a
parking area and entrance.
“This has been under con-
sideration for the 33 years that
I've lived on Gaston Street, but
no one has acted,” Wiesener
said. “We’re not against the
stadium, but it’s an eyesore.” .
Wiesener said persons atten-
ding ballgames often block
driveways and throw cans and
other trash in the streets.
Mayor Moss said he felt such
a request would fall under
Bureau of Outdoor Recreation
“as improvement of a recrea-
tional complex”, but “we will in-
quire to HUD (the Department
of Housing and Urban Develop
ment). This has always been a
desire of mine and other
members of the board,” Moss
said.
grows strawberries,
aS
Natural Resources instructed
the city last September to design
a plan to. correct leakage and
other problems at the dam. The
city hired Subsurface Investiga-
tions to inspect the dam annual-
ly and through their investiga-
during Monday night's meeting of the council
at City Hall. The repairs, plus some street
water improvements inside the chy limits, :
I would rather be appointed than
to have to run.”
Lineberger said he’s been plan-
ning his move for about a year.
' Since his father’s death, he has
worked at his farm in Dallas, as
well as a farm here where he
peaches,
grapes and blackberries. He also
operates a roadside market at his
farm in Dallas.
“I guess you could say we’re
expanding our operation,” he
said. “I am selling part of the
Kings Mountain farm to my
brother, Ervin. I'm going to
operate the place in Dallas and
we're going to work together in
Kings Mountain.”
Lineberger’s daughter, Lee
Ann, a rising 11th grader at
Kings Mountain High School,
will continue to attend school
here by paying an out-of-county
tuition.
At Hearing
Moss, in reviewing eligible
programs, said “Kings Mountain
has been very active in the
(CDBG) program, and it has
helped in the development of the
community. I wish there had
been more citizens come to give
their input. The more we have
the better balance we can pro-
vide in the application process.”
CDBG funds in the past have
been administered by the federal
government and their uses over-
seen by HUD. Beginning this
year, the 50 states have been
given the responsibility of ad-
ministering the funds but most
of the federal guidelines are still
in effect and HUD will continue
to oversee the programs, Moss
said.
In other action Monday night,
the board:
*Approved a resolution
transferring the franchise for
cable television service from
Cable Systems Inc. to Jones In-
tercable Inc. Jonas Bridges, a
partner in Cable Systems, re-
Turn To Page 2-A
tions and others by state
engineers, five problems were
cited.
The biggest problem, Johnson
pointed out, is a deteriorating
drain pipe which is leaking
around bolts. That 60” pipe must
be lined with a 48” pipe and the
space between the two grouted
with a treated concrete-type
substance to prevent future
leakage.
The city must also develop a
system forelowering the water .
level, and continue its yearly in-
spection program. In addition,
Johnson said, the spillway is 15
percent shy of carrying the max-
imum amount of water required
for a lake its size (11 billion
gallons of water).
The plans presented by
Johnson, and approved by the
board, have been reviewed by
state engineers and meet the
state’s guidelines, Johnson said.
Johnson was quick to point
out that the dam met safety re-
quirements when it was designed
12 years ago, and is in good con-
dition now. The dam, he said, re-
quires much attention and an
ongoing maintenance program.
Johnson said the maintenance
program at the dam began “three
to four years ago” and much pro-
gress has already been made.
Trees and other plants which
were growing there have been
removed and he said grass is cut
Hy hr ec. 0 four. times a vear “so we Aen
“We feel that will be the best
for her,” Lineberger said. “Her
friends are here, and it’s a real
good school system. We'd like
for her to finish here.”
Lineberger said being elected
to the school board was “one of
the biggest honors I’ve ever got-
ten.
“When I was first elected, I
planned to stay,” he said, “but
then these other things came up
and I had to make a decision to
keep the farm operation going.
“I learned a lot of things on
the board,” he went on. “It was
good experience. As far as I'm
concerned, Kings Mountain has
the best school system around
anywhere. They have the best
teachers, students and ad-
ministrators. I don’t have any
critcism. The system’s been good
to my children and I'm proud: of
the education they got there.”
can see anything that might in-
dicate a problem.”
The water flow is monitored
constantly, he said. “Problems at
dams generally start very
gradually and then accelerate,”
he said. “Anything as big and
powerful as this dam needs cons-
tant attention.”
Rather than draining the lake
to install the new pipe, divers
will be used, Johnson said. A
curved section of pipe will be in-
stalled and fitted with flinges and
valves to lower the lake level.
“What assurance do we have
that the liner will stop the
leakage? Twelve years ago we
were assured that it was a good
dam. I don’t want to come back
in 12 years and have to do this
again,” Commissioner Norman
King asked Johnson.
“I can’t see into the future,”
Johnson said, “but I don’t feel
like we’ll have to come back and
do this again. At that time this
was the acceptable criteria.
These things change. I think
once this is done, you'll be free
from major problems. But it will
always be there to look after. If
it’s not looked after you’ll have
problems.”
Contrary to some beliefs,
Johnson said area residents have
no reason to fear a flood at Moss
Lake.
He said dikes which are four
feet lower than the 850 foot dam
lus To Page 28
Boom!
City Employees
Unhurt In Fall
Two employees of the ci-
ty of Kings Mountain
escaped injury Friday
when they fell 25 feet in a
bucket truck boom.
Bill McMurray, 50, and
Erskine Ware, 54, were us-
ing the boom to remove
brick from the roof of
Mauney Memorial Library
on Piedmont Avenue.
They were coming down
with a load of brick when
the boom flipped over.
They remained in the
boom until it hit the
ground. Both were thrown
out, McMurray landed on
his leg and Ware on his
chest. Both received only
bruises.
The city is in the process
of capping chimneys atop
the library in order to con-
serve heat.
Funeral Services Held
For John I. George Sr.
John Ivey George Sr., 78, of
301 Parker Street, a retired
Kings Mountain merchant, died
Monday morning at Kings
Mountain Hospital after several
weeks illness.
A Kings Mountain native, he
was the son of the late Roseboro
Henderson and Lizzie
Froneberger George.
He is survived by his wife, Eva
Ballard George; four sons, John
I. George Jr. and the Rev. Ken-
neth George, both of Kings
Mountain, Curtis George of
Statesville and Richard George
of Virginia Beach, Va.; three
daughters, Mrs. Bill (Melba)
Wyers, Mrs. Horace (Pansy)
Cunningham and Mrs. Gary
(Francis) Sarvis, all of Kings
Mountain; two brothers, Gene
George of Arlington, Va., and
Ray George of Kingsport,
Tenn.; two sisters, Mrs. Della
Ware of Kings Mountain and
Mrs. Kay Sedberry of Alexan-
dria, Va.; 21 grandchildren and
14 great-grandchildren. He was
preceded in death by a son,
JOHN I. GEORGE SR.
Harold George.
Funeral services were con-
ducted at 4 p.m. Wednesday at
First Wesleyan Church by the
Rev. Dwight Edwards and the
Rev. Leroy Cox. Burial was in
Mountain Rest Cemetery.
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