Wednesday
July 6,
1988
Vol. 101, No. 28
Jake Early’s family that were present at the
day at the Community Center. Left
Jake Early Park Dedicated
in a 9-5 win over Cherryville in
the championship game.
By TODD GOSSETT
Staff Reporter
The Jake Early Memorial
Park was dedicated at the Com-
munity Center Monday during
Independence Day Festivities
held at the park.
A new sign with the words
‘Jake Early Memorial Park”
and a drawing of Early was put
above the entrance of the softball
field where the old ‘‘Commi-
sioners Park” sign was.
‘Jake Early brought honor to
his family and friends and cer-
tainly to the community,” said
Mayor Pro-Tem Norma Bridges.
“We are proud of that.”
Early was a Kings Mountain
sports legend, starring as a pit-
cher at Kings Mountain High
School in the 1930s and later as a
catcher for the i
League
| In 1935 Early led the KMHS
baseball team to its first ever
Western Conference Champion-
ship. He was the winning pitcher
EARLY’S FAMILY -- These are the members of Linda Bennett, grand-nephew Brent Baity, sister
Eloise Baity, brother-in-law Dewey Murray, sister
dedication of the Jake Early Memorial Park Mon- Minnie Murray, sister Mary Early Ware, and
brother-in-law Ralph Ware. :
to right: niece
In 1936, Early signed a pro con-
tract with the Washington
Senators. That year he hit .303
with Jacksonville of the South
Atlantic League.
In 1937 he had his best hitting
year, batting .317 with the
Charlotte Hornets. After that
season, he was called up to the
Senators and served as a backup
catcher during 1939 and 1940.
In 1941, Early became the
Senators number one catcher.
He caught 104 games in 41 and
again in ’42,
In 1943, he caught 126 games
and compiled a .258 batting
average. He caught the entire
Major League All-Star game in
hiladelphia. « rl
n 1944, Early was faites
he Army. He played some ser-
vice ball and fought in the Battle
of the Bulge.
After the war, he returned to
the Senators and hit .204. In 1947,
he was traded to the St. Louis
Browns where he hit .224.
In 1948, he was traded back to
By LIB STEWART
Herald News Editor
retired in 1970 at the age of 55. He
~ ceremony were sisters Mary
‘Eloi
the Senators. He completed his
major league career in 1949 and
returned to Kings Mountain
where he played and managed in
several minor league cities.
Early left Kings Mountain in
1965 and moved to Melbourne,
Fla. where he worked in major
league training camps until he
lived in Melbourne until his
death three years ago. He was 70.
Early was recently inducted
posthumesly into the Kings
Mountain Chamber of Com-
merce Sports Hall of Fame.
Members of Jakes’ family in
attendence at the dedication
Early Ware, Minnie Murray
Eloise Baity, Niece Linda Ben-
nett and grand-nephew Brent
Baity. Brothers-in-law Ralph
Ware and Dewey Murray also at-
tended.
Kings Mountain Police Chief
Warren Goforth didn’t get his re-
quest for two additional detec-
tives in the Kings Mountain
Police Department this year but
his department got the lion's
share of capital improvements in
the new budget approved Thurs-
day night by city council.
With a Police budget of
$985,247. approved, the total
capital outlay in his department
is $187,095. In this year’s budget,
only $775,445. is approved city-
wide for capital.improvements,
cut from $1,037,100. requested by
department heads and down
from $2,706,999. spent last year.
City Council approved $112,400.
for a new law enforcement
center and $12,995. for office
equipment. The city is
negotiating with the U.S. Govern-
ment for the old post office
building in downtown Kings
TO WALK FOR THE MARCH OF DIMES -- Mr. John Finger, pic-
tured here with his “WALKAMERICA” coat, will participate in the
walk in Kings Mountain on July 16. Finger, a former Kings Mountain
resident who now lives in California, was the first person ever to
walk for the March of Dimes. He earned the nickname ‘‘Mr.
WalkAmerica” for his forty years of dedication to raising money for
the March of Dimes.
Finger To
Participate
In Walk America
A March of Dime Walk
America will be held on Satur-
day, July 16, at 10 a.m. in honor
of Kings Mountain native John
Finger.
Finger is known nationally as
“Mr. Walk America” and has
participated in similar walks for
the past forty years. He will also
participate in the walk on July
16.
Funds raised in the walk will
go toward the March of Dimes’
fight against birth defects -- our
nation’s number one child health
problem.
Registration forms are
available at Plonk Bors. Depart-
ment Store on Railroad Avenue.
Registration forms are
available at Plonk Bros. Depart-
ment Store on Railroad Avenue.
Registration will begin on July
16 at 9:30 a.m. at West Elemen-
tary School. The walk will begin
at 10 a.m. and head east on West
Mountain Street, turn south onto
Railroad Avenue and end at
Plonk Bros. Department Store.
Prizes such as t-shirts, pit-
cher/tumbler sets, and desk
clocks will be given away to
those who raise $50 or more, $100
or more, and $250 or more.
The event is sponsored by the
Kings Mountain Herald. For
more information, call Todd
Gossett at 739-7496.
Mountain as a new home for the
police department. Police also
received $61,700 for new vehicles
and travel and training expenses
were upped to $8,000. from $3,967.
Police salaries approved by
Council are $478,500.
With belt-tightening in virtual-
ly all departments, Council
decided not to budget $150,000.
on approval of the budget as the first item o
Kings Mountain City Council set a record Thurs-
day night by adopting a $15.6 million budget in less
than a minute and without discussion, despite
advertising a public hearing in which one citizen
appeared to ask questions and was not recognized.
The Council went into a two and one-half hour
closed session before former Commissioner Jim
Childers could ask questions he said he wanted to
ask on the budget the board passed 5-0.
Childers said he saw a story about the public
hearing in the June 29 Shelby Star, and the same
notice posted in the lobby of the City Hall.
The City of Kings Mountain placed a legal adver-
: tisement as the city clerk has done in previous
years, the week prior to the budget adoption in the
June 22, 1988 Kings Mountain Herald. The notice
invited citizens to make written or oral comments
on the proposed city budget at a public hearing on
June 30 at 7:30 p.m.
“I'm sorry for the mixup,” said City Manager
George Wood who said the board met the statutory
legal requirement by holding a public hearing
June 20 at the first of three workshop sessions on
the proposed city budget. The workshop sessions
were poorly attended by the public and the Council
apparently didn’t take Wood's suggestion to
schedule a second public hearing before adoption.
The budget had been available for inspection in
City Clerk Marvin Chappell’s office since June 20.
City Manager Wood said he invites Mr. Childers
and any other citizen to come to his office and go
over the budget and attend all board meetings to
give input.
Wood, who only came to work in Kings Mountain
last month, said the budget would have been
available June 1 if he had had more time to work
on it.
The state requires all towns to adopt a budget by
July 1.
“I didn’t place the public hearing on Thursday
night’s agenda because the Council had not
authorized it,” said Wood.
Mayor Pro Tem Norma Bridges, presiding in the
absence of Mayor Kyle Smith, called for a motion
a ed by ( a man Al Mor oy
~ passed unanimously without discussion. i]
The Council held the final workshop session on
the budget Wednesday, June 29 with only depart-
ment heads and four council members in atten-
dance.
y OK’s Budg
$15.6 Million
determine staffing and pay levels.
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A Herald reporter was the only visitor. No =
“Normally the public would have had i 2
to review the budget and for that I apolog| rhe
Wood. ‘I will be happy to address any an Dm
cerns about the budget at my office at Ci Sa
in the public meetings of City Council,” |
: ~
City Tax Bills
Remain The Same
The new city budget allows for the possibility
that Kings Mountain voters will approve an $8-$10
million bond referendum to fund improvements to
the city’s utility system.
Thursday night, the city council did not fund
those proposed renovations in the $15.6 million
budget adopted, but authorized the spending of
$2,600 for a bond election.
The Council also set Kings Mountain’s ad
valorem tax rate for the coming year at 38 cents
per $100 valuation, which is a 12 cent reduction.
Most tax bills will be about the same as last year,
officials say.
The new property valuation and tax rate will
generate $768,000. in revenues, slightly less than
last year, according to City Manager George
Wood. Although the budget calls for spending only
$95,000. of the city’s fund balance, far less than the
$911,910. spent last year, Wood said the change is
an attempt to build the fund balance for use as
working capital in the event of an emergency.
The budget calls for spending $313,930. for pro-
fessional services, $110,000 of which will be spent in
water and sewer departments where city officials
say critical improvements must be made in the
near future.
The Council approved an annual $15,000. con-
tribution to the Kings Mountain Indoor Pool Foun-
dation. The board approved, under non-
departmental expenditures of $156,400., a total of
$25,000. to the N.C. Department of Transportation
for right of ways. Last year’s non-departmental =
budget was $376,768.
ne Council to
S nds are also
included for anticipated insurance ¥-overage in-
Turn To Page 8A
ment report in July requested by
Police To Get New Headquarters
department was $268,196, in-
cluding $142,483 in salaries and
$12,000, cut $1,000, for volunteer
1988-89 City Budget
firemen. Travel and training for
firemen is budgeted at $1,800.
and repairs and maintenance of
vehicles is budgeted at $9,000.
In Public Works Administra-
tion, where the Department
Head is Karl Moss and where
funds are also budgeted for a city
engineer, a draftsman, and two
secretaries, salaries are
budgeted at $99,687., up from
Moss’ request of $82,325. and
salaries last year of $62,325.
Building maintenance was upped
from $5,000 to $10,000 and vehicle
repairs total $2,000. Moss had re-
quested $28,000. in capital outlay | SANITATION
which the board cut to $6,800. 28,
Also approved for this depart- «0 70 POLICE
ment was a micro-computer and
department overall expenditures 6 %
ELECTRIC
of $190,043.
In the Street and Grounds
and maintenance, with a total
Department, the board budgeted
$210,515. for salaries, $80,000. for
supplies and materials, $38,283.
for street maintenance, $25,000.
for equipment repairs, for a total
operating cost of $596,894.
Capital outlay total $4,350.
In the Sanitation Department
salaries will apparently go up.
The board is recommending
salaries at $216,500 for 16 people,
up from the department head’s
request of $184,872. Total capital
outlay is budgeted at $21,000 and
the total budget is $447,696.
In the Cemetery Department
the board has budgeted $56,556
for salaries, $5,000 for repairs
budget of $91,207. :
In Codes, Planning and
Economic Development, where
two department heads and a
secretary are employed, the
operating budget is $112,682., up
from $111,567. last year. Salaries
Turn To Page 5
for expansion at the city garage
and approved only $10,000 for
vehicles. In Property and
Maintenance, request for two
new trucks was shelved in favor
of $3,000 for new equipment.
Fire Department Chief Gene
Tignor’s request for $30,000 for
improvements was cut to $11,100,
and total approved for his
Inside At A Glance
Richard
Barnett,
Cooper’s
P ardon Our
Computer
In the process of installing
computers at the Herald, we
“have mistakenly mailed
cancellation and renewal
notices to several of you who
‘should not have received
them. We apologize! Please
call us at 739-7496 so that we.
“can correct our records.
Store
Owner,
First To Be
Named To
Herald’s
Honor Roll
See Story
Page 7A
Ym.
ER