VOL. 97 NUMBER 30
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KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
001
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THURSDAY, JLY 5, 1984
America’s birthday celebration this Fourth of July was a big day for
Laotian-born Kamphone Sonvichit, 37.
“Kam”, as he is affectionately called by the Kings Mountain friends
he has learned to love in the past nine years in this community,
celebrated his first Independence Day Wednesday as an American
citizen. :
He received his American citizenship papers in U.S. District Court
Friday in Charlotte.
This week he received his own U.S. flag from the Colonel Frederick
Hambright Chapter DAR and the Stars and Stripes fly proudly today
over the home of Kam and Somchanh Sonvichit and their son,
Sompet.
Adding to his pride in his country this week, Kam also registered to
vote as an American citizen and says he will cast his very first vote in
the U.S. presidential race this November.
Bethware Registrar Hilda Goforth registered Kam, who will vote in
the West Kings Mountain precinct.’ Mrs. W.T. Weire made the flag
presentation on behalf of the DAR. Mrs. Weire, Mrs. Goforth, Mrs.
Eugene Roberts and Mrs. John Morgan attended the special
Naturalization ceremonies in Charlotte where 95 people became first
time citizens of the U.S.A. and took their oaths in impressive swearing-
in ceremonies before a U.S. District Judge and then stood together and
proudly sang “America The Beautiful.”
Kam said that members of the Colonel Frederick Hambright
Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, had supported hi in
his efforts to become a U.S. citizen. According to Kam, there was a lot
of paper work and two pages full of test questions, testing him on oral
questions.
What does his American citizenship mean to Kam, a refugee from
Laos?
The versatile young man, who speaks five languages fluently, can
tell you in one word: freedom. Kam fled his country during the com-
Embassy, where Kam worked as a translator. He then repaid that
friend’s help by saving his life when the communists tried to kill him.
He identified his good friend as Frank Welsh, son of Nena Putnam
Nebel of Charlotte, formerly of Kings Mountain. It was through the
support of the First Presbyterian Church that Kam came to Kings
Mountain and in the last nine years Kam has helped many more Lao-
tians to settle in Kings Mountain and other parts of North Carolina.
Highly respected by the Laotian community on the Eastern coast of
America, Kam helped at least eight families to locate here as well as
of ne speak
Freedom of worship is another freedom Kam enjoys and on Dec.
22, 1975 he came to Kings Mountainand joined the First Presbyterian
Church July 11, 1978. His wife and son are also members of the
church. Kam’s sister was married in the First Presbyterian church in
both a Christian and Laotian ceremony.
The Biblical Story of Ruth was recounted by officials of the Court
_of Naturalization Friday as Kam and other immigrants from as far
away as Pakistan, China, Laos, Mexico, Canada and other countries
stood to receive their U.S. citizenship papers. Kam said the service was
most impressive and said he could identify with Ruth, the
Moabitess; who said, “Entreat me not to leave thee, nor to return from
following thee, for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou
FREEDOM
Kamphone Sonvichit Gets American Citizenship
munist-takeover through the aid of an American friend at the U.S. .
Photo by Gary Stewart
CELEBRATES CITIZENSHIP-Kamphone Sonvichit, right. is
presented his own American flag from his pastor. Rev. Eric
Faust, minister of First Presbyterian Church. from Colonel
Frederick Hambright Chapter DAR. Kam celebrates his first In-
dependence Day this July 4th as an American citizen.
lodgest, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my
God.” ; is oh Hy
Call it flag waving if you will, but at least once a year we have every
right to wave the red, white and blue and be proud of what we have ac-
complished here in just over 200 years.
Our annual July 4th celebration and holiday is a good thing in many
ways. It’s a time for all of us to reflect on our many blessings and what
our forefathers achieved in the revolution against the British monar-
chy.
In a time beset with wars and rumors of wars in many places
throughout a troubled world, we are blessed with the fact that the last
time our national capitol was attacked by a foreign power was in 1814.
America is the greatest, so states Kamphone Sonvichit, one of the
America’s Proudest citizens this Fourth of July.’
"Expansion
Discussed
An addition to the present
Town Hall was projected at
Monday’s Town Board meeting
in Grover and estimates on costs
are to be presented at the next
board meeting of commissioners.
The building of a new Town
Hall came up again when
members pointed out the need
for a storage room to house
water and sewer pipes and sup-
plies once the city sewer project
is completed a year from now.
Commissioner. Grady Ross
said a community room is need-
ed also for senior citizens to hold
meetings and for any other non-
denominational get-to-gethers of
citizens. ‘Kings Mountain has
the Depot Center and Shelby has
provided a place for meetings
but we don’t have a thing for
them in Grover,” he said.
The town also needs a place to
store Christmas decorations and
the Board approved purchase of
10 more hanging decorations
and a garland and lights for the
front of City Hall at a cost of
$1500.
Mayor Bill McCarter pointed
out that the present Town Hall,
built ‘as a fire station, has a
meeting room of only 28x14 feet
with a small storage area off the
main meeting room which serves
also as the mayor’s office.
Five years ago the board drew
up plans for a facility which
would have cost then about
$40,000, said McCarter. Com-
missioners estimate the same
construction today will amount
to over $100,000.
“The Board got scared off
somehow,” said McCarter, “But
we still need the building.”
Comm. Roland Queen made
Orangrel Jolly
Outstanding Senior Citizen
Volunteering is a labor of love
for Orangrel B. Mrs. Clarence
L.) Jolly, who will be honored by
Governor Hunt as an outstan-
ding senior citizen volunteer
from Cleveland County
September 13th at 8 p.m. in
Asheville’s First Baptist Church.
Mrs. Jolly has been a
volunteer all her life in church
and community-related ac-
tivities, but she is being honored
on nomination by the Senior
Citizens Center for her service as
a senior citizen volunteer at the
Senior Center and at KM Con-
valescent Center where Mrs. Jol-
ly went back to work parttime
after her retirement
Margrace Mills office. She work-
ed parttime eight years at KM
Convalescent Center and
volunteered there for eight
years.
from
ORANGREL B. JOLLY
Mrs. Teresa Melton, director
of the KM Senior Citizen
Center, wrote in her nomination
to the Governor: ‘Mrs. Jolly
shares her many talents in all
areas of the community. With
Kings Mountain Aging she has
and is presently volunteering to
help coordinate commodity
foods programs, assists the
newsletter staff and works as an
office assistant, class leader and
coordinator, and helps with
special events such as health
fairs, Christmas floats and par-
ties for holidays. She also
volunteers many hours as a
friendly visitor.
“In addition to time shared at
Kings Mountain Aging, she also
is very active in the American
Legion Auxiliary volunteer pro-
Turn To Page 2-A
the motion that estimates be
given for both a complete
building as well as an addition to
the present town hall for a
storage building.
Comm. Grady Ross seconded
and reiterated his desire to see
Grover have a Town Meeting
Room which all its citizens could
use for various functions. Mc-
Carter said a building with a
small warehouse, office space,
and a meeting room would be
ideal.
In other actions, the board ap-
proved the purchase of the addi-
tional Christmas decorations,
bringing to 39 the number of
decorations the city will install
on Carolina Avenue for this
year’s Christmas parade and
festivities, and voted to pay
$6,592.66 for engineering con-
tracts to John Edwards for the
sewer project. A total of $14,000
is alloted for engineering services
for the project, said McCarter.
The monthly police report was
given and included a number of
what city policemen called
“domestic” incidents, blamed
they said on “hot weather when
tempers flare more,” and heard a
number of citizen complaints
about water drainage problems.
After an executive session, the
board accepted the resignation
of Jerry Kates, who has served
as Grover’s second policeman
since Sept. 1982. Kates is joining
the Kings Mountain Police
Department as a patrolman.
Board Backs
Lake Authority
The city board of commis-
sioners at a special meeting Fri-
day at noon unanimously back-
ed the KM Lake Authority in
rules and regulations governing
the city-owned John Henry
Moss Lake.
Buford Cline, a lake front pro-
perty owner who sold the lake
front property to the city March
10, 1971, representing a dozen
residents of Clinstead Sub-
Division, protested strongly
what he called “threatening and
strong arm tactics” on the part of
Philip Witherspoon, Lake
Authority officer. :
Cline says letters received by
the 12 property owners last week
state that the Lake Authority
will tear down piers on John
Henry Moss Lake “without fur-
ther warning” if the property
owners fail to pay a land leasing
fee. According to Cline, he and
the other residents of Clinstead
Sub-Division already have an
easement for the city’s approx-
imately eight foot strip of land
along the lake front. The ease-
ment was included, according to
Cline, in a deed restriction made
at the time Cline transferred the
lake front property to the city.
According to Cline, his inter-
pretation of a court judgment
handed down a month ago by
Judge Kenneth A. Griffin gives
him and other property owners
‘water rights, meaning they may
have piers without paying an-
nual lease fees for an easement,
about those rights at the time of
the property deals but couldn’t
get a direct answer from the
mayor.
Controversy has continued
over the rights which were
guaranteed to Cline and to the
property owners he had sold pro-
perty on Clinestead. “A deal is a
deal”, Cline maintains.
However, according to Assis-
tant City Attorney Mickey Cor-
ry, the recent court judgment did
not address the question of piers.
The judgment states that the city
cannot obstruct the property
owners in Clinestead from going
to and from the water’s edge.
They have the right just to cross
the eight foot strip to city owned
land, according to the attorney.
Corry says the property owners
have no right to build on the
land or even to cut grass there.
After about 45 minutes of
discussion, the board voted to
reaffirm.the court’s decision.
This action means that the
Authority will continue to de-
mand the leasing fee and will
tear down the piers belonging to
property owners who do not
comply. About 12 of the
Clinestead Sub-Division owners
own piers and some have already
paid the $125 annual leasing fee.
The city has never torn down
a pier at Moss Lake.
In other actions:
Mayor John Moss announced
that the city is in process of col-
lecting information from dredg-
ing contractors for dredging at
Moss Lake.
The board authorized E.Q.
Studios to film at Moss Lake for
two or three nights between July
16-28.
The board set July 9 and Aug.
13 as the meeting dates for the
summer and dispensed with the
special fourth Monday night
meetings so that members of the
various recently-appointed
special committees can meet and
formulate plans. ;
Members of the Board and
Mayor received a letter from
Charles T. Carpenter, Jr., Real
Estate Broker, inviting them to
Turns To Page 4-A
Problem
Should Be
Solved
City officials were flushing 65
water hydrants and calling on
By today, the taste of the
water should be much improved.
That’s the promise of city
water department official Walt
Ollis and Mayor John Henry
Moss.
According to the Mayor and
Ollis, Kings Mountain is not the
only municipality experiencing
the odor and bad taste in the
water this summer. At least 12
locations in the state have had
considerable problems.
Since the city is not pumping
as much water this week, since
most industry is shut down for
the week of the Fourth, Ollis
thinks that by week end Moss
Lake should be “settled down”
and if good weather continues
Kings Mountain water should be
about back to normal.
“What makes it so inconve-
nient to citizens is that we have
always had such good drinking
water here and all of a sudden
this problem occurs,” said Ollis,
who said that city and state of-
ficials have worked diligently
with the health department to
remedy the situation.
Pediatrician Begins
Practice Here Aug. 1
Dr. Martin Stallings will open
a practice in general pediatrics
on August 1, at 108 Edgemont
Drive. Dr. Stallings comes to
Kings Mountain from Raleigh,
where he has been in practice for
10 years.
He received his B.S. Degree
from the University of Alabama
and his Medical Degree from the
University of Alabama Medical
Center at Birmingham. His
residency in pediatric training
was done at the Children’s
Hospital at Birmingham. He was
the chief resident his senior year.
He served in the' United States
Air Force for a period of two
years and obtained the rank of
Major. Dr. Stallings is certified
by the American Board of
Pediatrics.
Beginning July 9, advance ap-
pointments may be made with
Dr. Stallings, until his office
opens August 1, by calling Kings
Mountain Hospital, 739-3601,
1 |
DR. MARTIN STALLINGS
Extension 424, Monday through
Friday, between the hours of
9:30-11:30 a.m. and 2:304:30
p.m.
citizens to drain their hot water