Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Nov. 28, 1985, edition 1 / Page 5
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WAG a irr Thursday, November 28, 1985-KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Page 5A ~ District Attorney Clears Former Cemetery Superintendent From Page 1-A “I’m happy for Ken,” said State Senator J. Ollie Harris. “I’ve dealt with him for 20 years and I felt like he did a good job out there at the cemetery. I’ve always thought he was very honest.” “Our investigation to date shows Jenkins is guilty of no criminal conduct, and in- deed, no wrongdoing of any kind”, according to Jenkins’ attorney who said that he is continuing to evaluate his case but believes that ap- proprivie civil action will be rought against the various parties responsible for the wrongs done to Mr. Jenkins.” “I am extremely pleased that Ken has been cleared of these charges’’, said Norman King, who had objected at the time of Jenkins’ dismissal that Jenkins was being fired for what appeared to be ‘“‘un- proven accusations’ and was the only commissioner to vote against firing. King has said that he would be in favor of reinstating Jenkins but he would not say if he would make such a proposal to the board. Jenkins, 58, had been cemetery supervisor for nearly 22 years. ‘““The decision to fire Jenkins was made solely upon what were found to be obvious and blatant rule violations”, according to the two-page statement released by the board of commis- sioners this week. ‘There was in fact no need by the Ci- ty of Kings Mountain to await the completion of an in- vestigation by the SBI or that Ken Jenkins would be charg- ed criminally and/or con- victed,” the statement said. A copy of the cemetery committee’s confidential report, (which the Herald has had a copy of since the August meeting at which Jenkins was fired) states the cemetery committee based its recommendations to fire Jenkins on alleged violations of Section 18 1/2 of the Kings Mountain Code of Or- dinances, which pertains to the city’s personnel policy. The report alleges, that “in addition to receiving cash gifts from two companies which conducted business with the cemetery, Jenkins failed to charge some monu- ment companies for marker -fees as required by a city or- dinance and failed to turn in fees which he did charge to other companies.” The report alleges that “two missing deliveries of funds to the City of Kings Mountain resulted from “either improper or lack of supervision of the employees in the cemetery department which possibly may have resulted in theft of such funds.” The report also alleged that ‘Jenkins was reimbursed for beach trip accommodations by a regular user of Mountain Rest Cemetery, which the report alleged was improper, and that because of these and additional violations of the ci- ty code, Jenkins’ behaviour oes appear to be a pattern of conduct which has existed for some time and which does ap- pear to have the liklihood of continuing to exist.” That report concluded that “any and all necessary civil actions be proceeded with for. the purpose of recovering any fees which might be due the city by the users of the cemetery which have gone uncollected, that all depart- ment heads be guides in such a manner that they shall meet the responsibilities as they are directed by the code of ordinances of the city and that all information had by this special committee be turned over to the SBI and the report be placed in Jenkins’ personnel file and that alter- native procedures be in- vestigated, other than those present’ ~ in effect, for the purr i discharge of a d- .ent head with the Ci- t ings Mountain.” '.ne board’s statement, signed by Commissioner Allen, follows: “The discharge of Ken Jenkins as supervisor for Mountain Rest Cemetery was one based upon such reasons as are necessary for the prote ction of the public interest and by reason of his violation of rules and regulations which do govern the perfor- mance of duties by super- visors and/or department heads for the City of Kings Mountain, North Carolina. That such discharge was not based upon whether an in- vestigation might have been conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation for North Carolina. The decision was made solely upon what were found to be obvious and blatant rule violations by Ken Jenkins. There was, in fact, no need by the City of Kings Mountain to await a comple- tion of an investigation by the ov State Bureau of Investigation’ or that he be charged criminally and/or convicted. “It should be noted that what is necessary for a discharge of a City Employee such as Ken Jenkins, is in no way what is necessary for a criminal violation, prosecu- tion or conviction to occur. It is obvious that such must be the case or the example would be that each time any employee is discharged by an employer, a criminal viola- tion must be shown. The City of Kings Mountain has no opi- nion as to whether or not a criminal violation of the Laws of North Carolina have occurred in that such is not the responsibility of the City of Kings Mountain to deter- mine. “The decision on the part of the District Attorney’s Office for this judicial district has no bearing on the action which has been taken by the City of Kings Mountain, in that the City of Kings Moun- tain has never attempted to cause any criminal prosecu- tion to occur; but only to take such steps and measures as were necessary for the pro- tection of the citizens of Kings Mountain in guiding the performance of duties by department heads and more particularly in this matter, Ken Jenkins. “It does appear, however, that many members of the public would desire to know the reasons for the discharge of Ken Jenkins. The City of Kings Mountain does not at- tempt to conceal or hide the reasons for such discharge, but in fact, is bound by the Laws of the State of North Carolina, and more par- ticularly North Carolina General Statutes 160A-168 ‘and its subsections. The City of Kings Mountain cannot, in fact, reveal such information except under certain cir- cumstances, one of those be- ing that Ken Jenkins might duly authorize someone on his behalf to review his file and obtain such information. If such duly authorized per- son were appointed by Mr. Jenkins, the City of Kings Mountain would most assuredly comply with the Law and release the informa- tion. The City of Kings Moun- tain did, in fact, take actions in this matter which were all lawful and will continue along that pattern and not give in to such pressures as might exist in causing it to release this information without proper authority. This information is, in fact, protected under a privacy act as does apply to an employee’s personnel records. “In closing, the investiga- tion/conducted in this matter by the designated committee for the City of Kings Moun- tain was done in a very lengthy and thorough manner with no predetermined deci- sion to made as to Mr. Jenkins. The decision was, in fact, based upon the informa- tion which was obtained and which in the opinion of the committee was true and ac- curate.” eOneida 10-6 eGorham *Royal Doulton eWilton Armetale ¢J.G. Durand eCrystal Clear Hours: Mon-Sat. 1423 E. Franklin Ave. the butterfly is landing on Friday, November 29th up-front akers shopping center ollie akers AAW eFitz and Floyd eVirginia Metalcrafters eTom Clark Creations eClaire Burke e Avanti eMs. Noah 861-8355 Gastonia, N.C. 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The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Nov. 28, 1985, edition 1
5
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