Football
Contest
Page 5C
VOL. 101 NUMBER 44
DON’T FORGET! F
TURNING
Page 7A
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1988
CHRISTMAS TREE AT LIBRARY - The two photographs made at Jacob S. Mauney Memorial and its
40 feet tall white pine Christmas tree illustrates if you view the Library from one direction, top photo, the
30-year-old tree does not obscure the beautiful renovation but, below, does. The Library Board after pro-
tests from citizens, withdrew request to the city to cut the tree.
Mauney Memorial Library.
them to Mayor Kyle Smith.
presentation to council.
responded...““I don’t know right now,” as he told
the audience...‘ ‘we will get expert opinion on the
life of the tree and will further
Halloween !
Coloring Contest g3
Library Board Chairman Grady K. Howard, Sr.,
told City Council Tuesday night that he wanted to
‘‘diffuse the electricity in the air’ as he asked for a
delay of his group’s plans to request the city to
remove ‘‘The Tree”, a white-pine-symbol at
Protestors present at the meeting, meantime,
dwindled “to a precious few’’ as the song goes, but
were represented by petitions signed by 1,228 peo-
ple, according Mrs. Denice Talbert who handed
“How long will the delay be,” Mrs. Talbert ask-
ed Chairman Howard as he was making his
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NOR in vAnuLinm
Library Halts
A KMSHS student with a group of three students
told the group that her friends ‘were in favor of
keeping the tree.”
Mr. Howard, after requesting the delay, went in-
to a presentation of the history of the library and
noted the recent successful effort to raise some
$300,000 from the public ‘‘when folks didn’t think
we could do it”, for the expansion project now
nearing completion.
“We will have open house at the facility in
December,’”’ he announced, “and we sincerely re-
quest the tree-petitioners to join friends of the
Library and put your considerable energies into
assisting the nine-member library board and the
staff in making the library a truly great place of
learning for the community.”
Mayor Smith said, as he complimented the
Mr. Howard
announce more
complete landscaping plans for the grounds...we
want the library to be as attractive as possible.”
See Library, Page 3A
Tom Howard, a retired Lt. Col-
onel from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, is the new engineer
for the city of Kings Mountain.
Howard recently retired after
22 years of military service,
working on heavy construction
projects and as manager of city
and community engineering
work at home and abroad for the
Army.
A native of Virginia Beach,
Va., Howard received his
undergraduate degree in
engineering from Virginia
Military Institute and a graduate
degree from the University of
Missouri. He is a registered
engineer. »
Howard New KM Engineer
Howard said one of his most in- :
teresting assignments in the
military was serving as the
Directorate of Engineering and
Housing for the Army in West
Germany. In the position he was
responsible for all the utilities
and public works within the
military community of his area.
He said he wanted to relocate
to this area because of the quali-
ty of life, as compared to the
highly populated area of Wood-
bridge in Northern Virginia
where he and his family are mov-
ing from. ‘I also wanted to get
back to this type of engineering
See Howard Page 64 TOM HOWARD
City Services
Utilities To Meet Demand For 10 Years
Bill Little, senior vice-
president of the city’s consulting
electrical engineering firm from
Charlotte, told council in public
hearing Tuesday night that the
K.M. system will be able to ser-
vice current load and some
growth for the next 10 years with
proposed improvements. =
The public hearing was con-
ducted in conjunction with the ci-
ty’s upcoming bond election,
which will ask citizens to ap-
prove $1,811,500 in distribution
improvements. Total of the
bonds sought is $9.2 million.
‘“‘After these improvements
have been realized and the
system, which is now in almost-
critical disrepair. settles in,
Kings Mountain will be able to
double it’s load with addition of
required hardwood to structures
completed under the current pro-
ject and at a fraction of the cost
for such increase starting from
scratch,” Consultant Little told
the group.
“This plan really has the chy
looking forward,” he continued.
He presented an updated elec-
trical distribution map and a
chart, which are available for
public inspection at council
chambers at city hall at any time
for persons wishing to learn
more about the project.
Sam Tessenair, an interested
citizen who attends many council
meetings, asked Mr. Little about
tree-trimming...‘‘can the city’s
crews not do the job cheaper than
a contractor?’”’. Mr. Little said,
that tree-trimming is a
maintenance activity and that
anything that helps in line
maintenance will help keep the
system at peak condition and will
save money.
“We calculate reduced pur-
chase costs to the system (Duke
Power demand charges) at
$48,000 annually if you follow this
plan,” he claimed. ‘And there
will be other money saved by
operating the new system effi-
ciently,” he continued.
“We just had to spend $10,000
for G/E contacts at the Gaston
St. sub-station to stay on line,”
Director Maney told group. ‘‘And
that is-just to keep up, not make a
major improvement,’’ he said.
In other action council:
...adopted ordinances to rezone
property of Elizabeth Lynch at
the corner of Falls St. and
Cherokee St. S. from general
busiess (GB) to residential-office
(R/O) to provide for single-unit
condos; and of Lloyd Laws at the
corner of Linwood Rd. and Se-
cond St. from neighborhood
business (NB) to R-6 residential
to better conform with the
neighborhood. Mr. Jim Claffee of
First Federal spoke for Mrs.
Lynch and said there would be no
high-rise on the property:
...appointed Donald L. Parker
to another five-year term at the
request of John L. McGill, chair-
man of the housing authority.
...authorized City Treasurer
Marvin S. Chappell, Jr., to open
a checking account at First
Citizens Bank & Trust Co., for the
new employees cafeteria plan.
...ordered permanently. closed
a gravel lane named Glenn St.,
which is sub-standard in width
and not located on the ground as
per county tax map plat, with the
approval of owners Marvin
Black and Gordon Bolin. The
area formerly connected Grace
St. and Church St.
...approved final plat for Logan
Park sub-division on Margrace
Rd., south of the mill, which also
approves a requested variance
on road width and contruction,
Attorney Andy Neisler repre-
sented his firm at the meeting.
..sét date of Nov. 22nd for
public hearing on voluntary an-
See City, Page 3A
357 Smith & Weson, below.
~ CHANGES--The 16 shot capacity Ruger semi-automatic pistol,
above, will be the new handgun carried by city police, replacing the
Kings Mountain’s police
department will be switching to a
new semi-automatic handgun on
Nov. 1 that will increase the
firepower each officer carries
while on duty.
The department will be con-
verting to a 9 mm semi-
automatic Ruger P-85 that has a
16 round magazine. This will
replace the Smith & Wesson
model 65, 357 magnum pistol that
has been the department’s stan-
dard handgun for more than a
decade. It has a six shot capaci-
ty.
Patrolman Keith Williams did
the research that led the depart-
ment to switch to the new model.
The Ruger is a double action
automatic pistol that offers a
very efficient and easy to use
design with less recoil.
Patrolman Williams says that
statistics show that when a
policeman is forced to use his
handgun today that it is not un-
commmon for the officer to ex-
pend 20-30 rounds of ammunition,
compared to three to four 10
years ago.
The change has come about,
Williams said, primarily
because of drug traffic. ‘Drug
Police Switching
To New Handgun
dealers may be carrying
valuable contraband and they
carry automatic, state-of-the-art
weapons.”’
Another reason is that persons
who are using drugs or alcohol
are much more difficult to stop
when police have to use force, so
See Police, Page 3A
INSIDE AT A GLANCE
City Water Meter
Repair Underway
A “rain delay,” of all things, has speeded up the city’s project to
replace inoperative water meters for some commercial and residen-
tial customers.
Scheduled for an off-week and a chance to replenish supplies for
the job, crews were back at work Monday on the 7-day-per-week ef-
fort. The announced schedule for R&L Gray, Lmt., the Pawley’s
Island landscape and grading contractor, is: work two weeks and off
one.
Last Friday’s downpour allowed a weekend off and a trip to their
S.C. warehouse for more supplies. Completion is now expected Nov.
7.
The events did little to slow down Tommy King’s schedule -- he is
the city’s inspector for the work and must approve each installation.
“These four crews are very efficient and know what they are do-
ing,” Inspector King said. “They have had experience all over the
U.S., he added, stating that the first crew digs the hole, the second
(plumbers) install the new meter and re-connect the line, the third
covers and the fourth does the landscaping.”
Meantime, with little rain in sight, R&L’s crews have a shot at
completing the project several days sooner, according to Walt Ollis,
director of water and waste-water services for the city. The contrac-
tor’s crews work from dawn to sundown.
See Water Meter Page 6A
Area Residents Asked To Join City
Letters to citizens who are presently receiving city services and
whose property is contiguous to the city limits are to go into the mail
next week with information that the city will waive established fee of
$100 for voluntary annexation now.
M.E. (Gene) White, city planning and economic development
director, said that Kings Mountain has established annexation as a
high priority and is now going ahead with plans to do so.
He also said that, “often a significant population living in the
developed urban fringe beyond the city limits receive most of the
benefits of municipal tax dollars (employment opportunities,
streets, major thoroughfares, utilities, parks, schools, libraries, and
associated cultural facilities, etc.) while not bearing any financial
responsibility for these services. This is perceived as unfair to all
other taxpayers. The city is making great strides in providing better
management and services to all citizens. As an incentive, the city
will waive the $100.00 application fee.”
Lends
A
Helping Hand
Page 11A
Daryl McCuiston
Girls Tennis Team
Wins Championship
Page 17A
a. a