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VOL. 96 NUMBER 30 THURSDAY, July 21, 1983 KINGS MOUNTAIN.NC| A
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time in 16 years.
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City
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THE RESULTS —
ELECTION
ountain, N. C.
LY 19, 1983
1. To vote for or again
(X) mark to the lef
2. Mark only with pencil o ink.
3. If you tear or deface or wrongly
return it and get another.
your rence.
is ballot,
1, 384 FOR the ‘“‘off-premises’ sale only alt
beverages.
1, 414 AGAINST the “off-premises’’ sale only of malt
beverages.
wine.
1, =r FOR the “off-premises’’ sale only of unfortified
1, 428 AGAINST the ““off-premises’ sale only of
unfortified wine.
1,387 FOR the operation of ABC Stores.
1 465 AGAINST the operation of ABC Stores.
9
DOYLE CAMPBELL
Doyle E. Campbell announc-
ed today that he plans to seek
the unexpired four-year term on
the Kings Mountain District
Schools Board of Education in
the November election.
The inside-city seat was
vacated several months ago by
the resignation of Jerry Ledford.
The board chose not to appoint a
replacement since his resignation
came so close to election time.
Campbell, an 11-year resident
of Kings Mountain, has been in-
volved with schools for a
number of years. He has served
as president and treasurer of the
CHARTING VOTES—Members of the Kings Mountain Citizens for Legal Control--the group sup-
porting the sale of alcoholic beverages in the city limits of Kings Mountain-chart predicted elec-
tion results Tuesday at their headquarters at the Holiday Inn. Kings Mountain had its closest beer.
wine and liquor referendum in 16 years Tuesday, with all three issues failing by narrow margins.
Campbell To Run For Board
West Elementary School Parent-
Teacher Organization. As a
parent volunteer, he tutored
children in the third grade and
kindergarten. During the
1981-82 school year, he served
on the Superintendent’s Blue
Ribbon Facilities Committee
which studied and planned for
the improvement of the physical
facilities in the local district. He
also served on the Committee of
Ten representing Kings Moun-
tain District Schools in a
cooperative effort with Shelby
and Cleveland County units. He
is a member of the Kings Moun-
By GARY STEWART
Editor
Kings Mountain voters narrowly defeated the
third beer, wine and liquor referendum in 16 years
Tuesday but the Citizens for Legal Control-the
group which petitioned the City Elections Board to
call for the election-may call for a recount prior to
Thursday’s 11 a.m. canvass.
The group was discussing the possibility after the
voting concluded Tuesday night. Elections Board
Chairman Luther Bennett said the request would
have to have been received in writing on Wednes-
day for a recount to be considered.
Over 2,800 of the city’s 4,400 registered voters
went to the polls Tuesday and defeated the “off-
premises” sale of beer by 30 votes, 1,414 against to
1,384 for; the “off-premises” sale of wine by 73
votes, 1,428 against to 1,355 for; and the operation
of ABC stores by 78 votes, 1,465 against to 1,387
for.
The big victory for the dry forces came in the
west precinct, where the vote was 813 to 769
against beer, 825 to 751 against wine and 840 to
776 against ABC stores.
In the east precinct, voters approved the sale of
wine and beer but defeated the establishment of
ABC stores. The east voters gave beer a 615 to 601
nod and wine a one-vote 604 to 603 margin. ABC
stores were defeated by a vote of 628 to 611.
Although most people felt like the vote would be
close, the fact that more people favored the sale of
Photos By Gary Stewart
sale of beer and wine failed by 232 votes (1,499
against to 1,267 for).
In 1967, the ABC vote failed by 320 votes (1,411
against to 1,091 for).
“The fact that beer came closer to passing surpris-
ed me,” said Rev. Gene Land, pastor of Second Bap-
tist Church and chairman of the Kings Mountain
Positive Action League, which opposed the sale of
alcohol in the city. “I thought the ABC store would
have come closer. In the past, people have been
more prone to pass the ABC store because it’s just
one outlet, whereas beer can be sold at several loca-
tions. But I'm happy that all three lost, even by
slight margins.”
Rev. Dwight Edwards, pastor of First Wesleyan
Church and another leader of the dry forces, peeped
through the windows of the Kings Mountain Com-
munity Center as vote counters tallied the east
precinct ballots. With the west results already in
and showing the dry forces ahead by a slight
margin, many citizens gathered at the Community
Center to hear the final tally.
“I’m pleased that all three were defeated, but I'm
disappointed by the narrow margin,” Rev. Edwards
said. “The close margin would indicate that a recall
vote is possible and we’ll have to go through the
same thing again in three years.
“The best three words I can think of are ‘Praise
the Lord’,” he said.
West Kings Mountain,” he said.
“That’s where we thought we’d
win it. It’s usually where we win
it, but this time we won in East
Kings Mountain and lost in
West Kings Mountain.”
" Cloninger said the wets also
failed to get all of their people
out. “We thought we’d have well
over 3,000 votes cast,” he said.
The Citizens for Legal Control
set up their election head-
quarters at the Holiday Inn and
used watchers at the Armory
and Community Center to relay
vote counts to the headquarters.
By using voter registration lists,
the group was able to predict
how each person voted.
Cloninger said their predic-
tions failed, though, because,
election officials at the Armory
refused to allow their watchers
to get close enough to the
registration table to hear.
“We lost 400 voters between
6:30 and 9:30,” he said. “We got
way behind. We didn’t know
who had voted between 6:30 and
9:30. There were certain people
that voted that we didn’t know
had voted.
“We finally got that
straightened out, but it was a
state of confusion when we
got so far behind. We tried to
catch up all day but never did.”
Cloninger said his group will
definitely call for a recount, but
isn’t sure what reason he'll give
the Elections Board for re-
questing one.
“I haven’t finished researching
the law yet,” he said. “We were
too tired to do it last night. Ell
have to see what reasons you
have to put down. But we've
definitely decided to ask for one.
It was just too close.”
a “rm ued ; hdr we lost
tain District Schools Vocational
Advisory Council and will serve
as vice president during the next
school term.
A native of Oak Ridge, Tn.,
Campbell is a graduate of
Carson-Newman College in Jef-
ferson’ City, Tn. He holds a
Master’s Degree from Tulane
University in New Orleans, La.
He served in the United Staes
Air Force, obtaining the rank of
captain. While in service, he
completed a one-year tour of du-
ty in Vietnam and was awarded
the Bronze Star medal for
meritorious service.
Campbell currently serves on
the Kings Mountain Little
Theatre Board of Directors and
is a former director of the Kings
Mountain Chamber of Com-
merce/Merchants Association.
He is an active member of
Resurrection Lutheran Church
where he has served as a Sunday
School teacher and a member of
the church council. Presently, he
is vice chairman of the congrega-
tion.
This is Campbells first at-
tempt at public office. He said he
feels his background and
Turn To Page 8-A
_ Bennett, who as chairman of
the Elections Board has worked
most of the elections in recent
years, said the 2,817-voter tur-
nout was the largest ever in
Kings Mountain.
Bennett said the election went
well “considering the type of
election it was.”
“Our people (precinct election
officials) were busy all day,” he
said. “We never did get a big
line, but it was steady. They
didn’t hardly have time to
eat...just a few short breaks.”