VOL. 101 NUMBER 32
NIW SONTY.
Id
25°
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3,1988
Mary Ratchford, whose property was first
chosen for the proposed $26 million Crowders
Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant, was over-
joyed.
_ Gastonia City Council had followed her sugges-
tion as well as other protesters to take the project
west of U. S. 321, not east.
_The Ratchfords said they favored a plant but
didn’t want it built of their property. They had con-
tended they would tie up the project in court for
years if officials took an engineer’s proposal to
build it east of the highway.
David Beam, of Cherryville, chairman of the
Gaston County Board of Commissioners, said he
thought the decision was wise. Gaston County
commissioners also voted to give their endorse-
ment to the western site at a meeting on Thursday
night following Gastonia’s action on Wednesday
night.
Gastonia To Go West Of 321
During Thursday’s meeting, County Manager
Phil Hinely said he is continuing to talk with
Gastonia, Bessemer City and Kings Mountain of-
ficials about the project which hit a financial snag
recently when Kings Mountain commissioners
decided they can pay only $1.25 million instead of
$3 to $4 million as originally proposed. Without
Kings Mountain support the project may not
receive a $14 million EPA grant local officials
need to finance the deal.
Beam says the project is still alive and that
although plans were to be submitted by an Aug. 1
deadline that agencies have indicated they will ac-
cept the plans late. Negotiations between the cities
are continuing, he said.
Gaston County commissioners also approved
the Gaston 201 Wastewater Facilities Plan which
will now be submitted to the state for initial com-
ment and review.
SITE NO. 3
Gastonia Council
Chooses Site #1
KM. Gaston
Negotiating
On Crowders
The proposed $26 million Crowders Creek
Wosiowater treatment project is apparently still
alive.
Kings Mountain and Gastonia City and Gaston
County officials are meeting again today in
Gastonia trying to reach a settlement on Kings
Mountain’s participation in the regional plant.
Meantime, the Gastonia City Council passed up
the Crowders Creek project on the agenda of Tues-
day morning’s regular council meeting. When
Mayor J.B. Garland asked Utilities Director Sam
Wilkins if he had anything to report Wilkins said he
had no comment. Gastonia was expected to make
a decision on Kings Mountain’s recent offer of $1.25
million, as opposed to nearly $4 million, and a shot
at annexation and input on placement of meters.
Wood said discussions are continuing on ‘‘possi-
ble options.” “There are discussions going on now
that can benefit everyone involved and Kings
Mountain is willing to do what we can within
reason to see the project to completion,” Wood told
The Herald. :
Wood would
net give speci-
fics on negotia-
tions, but final
recommenda-
tions will likely
be made during
next Tuesday’s
regular council
meeting unless a
special meeting
is called.
Several weeks ago Kings Mountain City Council
voted to stay in the project if the city could pay a
smaller share of the cost. The other three govern-
ments, Gastonia (lead agency), Gaston County,
and Bessemer City were faced with scrapping the
Crowders Creek project or picking up the addi-
tional $2.5 million that would have n Kings
Mountain’s share or build a smaller, less expen-
sive plant, without Kings Mountain. Without Kings
Mountain’s participation in the regional system,
the project loses its priority status and possibly a
$14 million grant. Kings Mountain’s order to im-
prove its water treatment facilities by 1990 placed
it at the top of the priority list for federal grants ad-
ministered by the state. City officials, however,
said it would be cheaper and faster to make im-
provements to Kings Mountain’s Pilot Creek treat-
ment plant and forego plans for the Crowder’s
Creek plant. Negotiations have been underway
since.
Called Meeting
Thursday Night
Gaston County Commis-
sioners have called a meeting
for Thursday night at 7 p.m.
at Gaston County Courthouse
to discuss the Crowder’s
Creek wastewater project.
Last Wednesday Gastonia City Council ended a
months-long dispute with property owners and
unanimously approved a site west of U.S. 321 by
Crowders Creek near the South Carolina line in-
stead of their first choice which had been east of
Highway 321. :
The western site is not without drawbacks,
however. Gastonia officials say if there are ar-
chaeological and biological problems with the
western site it won’t be supported by the state. An
eastern site could serve 100 percent of the
Crowders Creek basin while a western site will
serve 88 percent.
Another 1,500 fish were killed in Crowders Creek
this week but officials of the Carolina and Southern
Processing plant on U.S. 321, which dumps treated
sewage in the creek, say the recent kill is not their
fault. Officials said a heavy rain July 4th weekend
washed sludge over the retaining wall of one of the
company’s lagoons and into the creek. The sludge
used up the oxygen fish need to breathe and
resulted in 28,000 dead fish.
Photo by Gary Stewart
Blacksmith
Charlie Rhodarmer works on a hinge for Kings Mountain National Military Park at his tent Sunday at
the battlefield. Members of the Catawba Militia from Asheville, Old Fort, Marion and Cullowhee camped
at the park Saturday and Sunday and re-created lifestyles from the Revolutionary War era. In addition to
blacksmithing, they demonstrated camp life activities such as cloth dyeing, molding, and use of weapons.
Study Says Lap Seat Belts
BY LIB STEWART
STAFF REPORTER
Eric Melton’s dreams to be a
cop were shattered July 22, 1987
in an automobile crash but he
thanks God for life against odds
that seemed impossible.
“] had my seat belt on,
‘Daddy,” were the first words
Eric, then 19, said three months
after the accident that happened
when a van pulled out of a side
road on Wilkinson Boulevard in
Belmont and the small car carry-
ing three students crashed into it.
Melton was in back with seat .
belt on. Two friends were in
Dangerous
man and Cissy Melton, formerly
of Kings Mountain. Three days a
week now Eric spends at
Charlotte Rehabilitation
Hospital for therapy to
strengthen back and abdominal
muscles. Although confined to a
wheelchair, he’s growing
stronger every day and his in-
creased appetite is helping put
pounds back on that he lost. He
can put on an undershirt and
shirt by himself and can almost
get from his bed to his
wheelchair by himself. Every
day the family notices real pro-
gress and recently Eric accom-
panied his 17-year-old sister,
98087°0°'N%"
Repair
Needed
At Dam
front, each wearing a shoulder
belt harness. They survived with
minor injuries. Eric’s belt kept
him in his seat but it almost cut
him in half.
For three months Eric didn’t
know he was in the world. He sur-
vived 13 operations and spent 350
“ERIC MELTON
days last year in the hospital, in-
cluding his birthday and
Christmas. Sept. 27th he
celebrates his 21st birthday.
‘We're really proud of Eric,”
says his father and mother, Fur-
Tammy, and their parents to a
shopping mall.
Eric has high hopes of return-
ing to classes at Gaston College
and getting a specially equipped
car he can operate. That's in the
Turn To Page 5-A
City To Hire Personnel Director
Kings Mountain City Council is expected to hire
its first time Personnel Director Tuesday night at
the August board meeting at 7:30 p.m. in Council
Chambers.
City Manager George Wood said he is not ready
to announce the identity of the new department
head until after the board acts on his recommen-
dation. The Personnel Director will supervise a ci-
ty of 165 employees and is expected to report to
work on Aug. 22, a week after the board holds a
special meeting on Aug. 16 to receive a long-
awaited management study report on job
classification and pay of city employees.
Wood said he is making his recommendation for
the top job after interviewing 45 applicants.
The position for city engineer is now being
advertised in professional journals, according to
Wood, who has had nn takers for the position being
advertised in newspapers statewide.
In a related matter involving personnel, the
council at Tuesday's meeting will consider
renewal of medical insurance for city employees
with some modifications involving dependent
coverage. In past years, the city has paid for both
employee and his or her dependent children or
spouses. Wood said he will unveil a new package
which tailors benefits down but gives the
employees some flexibility. “The city may be
moving from a Cadillac plan of insurance to a
Chevrolet plan of insurance,” he said.
Wood said he anticipates no adjustments in the
city budget to accommodate any pay increases
that may be proposed by analysts studying the ci-
ty’s pay plan which included a job description for
each position in the city.
INSIDE AT A GLANCE
BY LIB STEWART
NEWS EDITOR
Kings Mountain Utility Committee will recom-
mend the city spend up to $1 million in the next
three to four years for improvements to Moss
Lake Dam and stop its policy of turning on pilot
lights for natural gas customers.
City Manager George
Wood will also recom-
mend that the city take
a hard look at its policy
on building inspection
i fees and get out of the
driveway connection
business where the city
is losing money by pay-
ing $13.50 per lineal foot
for driveway connec-
tions and receiving $10
in fees from customers.
The recommendations
are on the agenda for
» | Tuesday night's City
GEORGE WOOD Council meeting at 7:30
p.m. at City Hall.
Last Wednesday night the Utilities committee,
chaired by Councilman Al Moretz, heard about the
lake problems, some of which were expected. The
state required the city in May to have an inspec-
tion at the dam and came back with recommenda-
tions. Moss Lake Dam is 20 years old and con-
sulting engineer David Pond of W. K. Dickson Co.
of Charlotte told the commission that immediate
repairs, estimated at $100,000 to the spillway, need
- to be done. The board had budgeted $70,000 for the
improvements. The $1 million price tag came as a
surprise to Wood and utility committee members
Moretz, Fred Finger and Humes Houston.
Bids for the improvements are to be presented
to the City Council at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Pond said the problems have occurred from
water seepage underneath the spillway. Pond said
one of the spillway’s 19 concrete slabs is eracked
and must be replaced and about half the joints bet-
ween the slabs.
Wood said this type of problem is common
among dams built in the late 1960’s. Postponement
would be risky, said Pond, who said the spillway
problems could hurt the dam itself. “You could
ve picked a better time to tell us,” said Coun-
cilman Al Moretz, referring to last month’s deci-
sion by the city utility commission to present the
full city council a $11.5 million utility package
which includes $6.5 million for upgrading the
water treatment plant and installation of a 24-inch
line from the Ellison plant to the city limits and
$1.5 million for the electrical system. The pro-
posals also include funds to upgrade Pilot Creek
Wastewater treatment plant from 4 to 6 million
gallons per day and installation of badly needed
sludge handling equipment.
The committee did not discuss the Crowders
Creek $26 million regional wastewater treatment
project which Kings Mountain is negotiating right
now. The city council has said it can afford to in-
vest only $1.25 million - less than half its original
share of $3 to $4 million in the project - a combined
effort of Gaston County, Gastonia City, Bessemer
City and Kings Mountain.
Wood said the reason for the change in policy of
lighting furnaces for natural gas customers is due
to the danger posed both to the city employees and
natural gas customers.
“It won’t be a popular decision but I believe it is
a wise one because on the liability issue, alone, all
it takes is one house,” he said.
Wood also pointed out that private heating com-
anies object to the city’s policy since it takes
iil away from them. If the board passes his
recommendation, customers will have to pay
about $25 for a routine pilot lighting. Wood said the
only exception to the new city policy, if approved,
would be when service is disrupted because of the
city’s fault. Wood said he doesn’t want city
employees to relight pilots. He said the city could
hire private companies for the job. Wood pointed
out that certified gas and electric technicians
should be used because of the safety factor.
Wood also noted that the city is competing with
rivate businesses and not recouping costs of
Puilding inspection fees, a program which has not
been revamped in years. ‘We inspect, do the work
and don’t charge,” he said of present policy that
needs to be changed.
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"HAV INOWGT
AIVILIT TVINOK
KM’s New
Recreation
Director
Missing
Man
Returns
PAGE 1-B
Obituaries.......... 3-A
Editorials .......... 4-A
Churches........... TA
Sports............. 1-5B
Classifieds....... 12-14B
Weddings.......... 2-3C
Food .......c.0c.. vs 6-7C
PAGE 11-A PAGES TODAY
WEATHER
Chance of late afternoon or evening thunderstorms. High 96 to 98,
Low in the low 70’s. Continued hot Thursday and Friday with chance
of afternoon and evening thunderstorms.
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