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L VOLUME 101, NUMBER 7 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1989 KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROL
1
KM Council
To Consider
King Holiday
February meeting at city hall last night finalized action
on the Feb. 7th bond vote, heard a request from over
py Rh
Photo by Gary Stewart
IN THE SWIM OF THINGS - The new indoor swimming pool at Kings Mountain High School officially opened this week and members of the
Sharks Acquatics Club and others interested in learning to swim are already taking advantage of the facility, which will be used for school and
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Facility P
Kings Mountain's Board of Education approved a
revised plan for school facility improvements at
Monday night's monthly meeting at the
Superintendent's Office.
The original plan approved in 1987 required $10.3
for improvements, but higher construction costs and
newly-discovered asbestos problems which will re-
quire almost a million dollars have caused the money
needs to rise to $11.7 million.
Kings Mountain can still accomplish all its building
goals, however, if the April school bond referendum in
Cleveland County passes, Supt. Bob McRae said. The
improvements can be made in five to seven years with
bond approval, but without approval it may take 15
years.
Whether or not the bond passes, McRae pointed out,
Kings Mountain Students
Score High In State Test
Kings Mountain students scored almost twice the
state average on recent State Writing Tests for sixth
and eighth graders, Asst. Supt. Larry Allen reported at
Monday's monthly meeting of the Board of Education
at the Superintendent's Office.
Kings Mountain sixth graders improved by 10 per-
cent over the previous year and eighth graders, even
though their scores weren't as high as sixth graders, al-
so showed much improvement.
"We have a lot to be proud of," Allen said. "We've
continued to improve over the past four years and ev-
ery year, the number of students scoring 3.0 or above
has increased and the number scoring under three have
diminished."
Over 71 percent of KM sixth graders scored over
3.0, compared to 36.4 in the state and 41.2 in the re-
gion. Only 2.6 percent of KM sixth graders scored be-
low 2.0, compared to 14.7 in the state and 11.9 in the
region.
Over 61 percent of KM's eighth graders scored bet-
Turn To Page 2-A
lan
Eee
evise
the tax rate will stay the same and the schools will still
receive their building funds through the county's two
half-cent sales taxes and the state's School Facility
Fund. However, passage of the bonds would mean
Kings Mountain would receive more money up front,
allowing the system to go ahead with improvements.
The closing of Central School as a facility for stu-
dents is still the number one goal on KM's priortized
list. To close Central, additions and improvements at
the junior and senior highs must be made at an esti-
mated cost of $5.2 million. With passage of the bond,
those would be made in 1989, and during that same
time the system would also remove asbestos from scv-
eral plants at a cost of $900,000.
Other improvements are needed at all five elemen-
Turn To Page 2-A
t David Hancock, Kings Mountain Recreation Director. Sh 4
community activities. Left to right in this photo, Sarah Dilling, Paula Eckerd, Nathan Mayse and Marie Mayse of the swim team practice. For
information about community swimming programs at the pool, contac :
[Proposed Cos!
: Schools Ir
35 citizens that it grant city employees a paid holiday
next year for the King Holiday and accepted at no
charge a proposal from the State of North Carolina to
assist in records keeping.
The actions were among those taken at a short - 42
minute - session at which two members were absent
and City Clerk Marvil S. Chappell, Jr., absorbed nearly
half the time in reading the required "legalese."
"We want you to give your employees the opportu-
nity, with a day off work, to appropriately observe this
national, state and county holiday," Rev. M.L.
Campbell, of Kings Mountain, told council in refer-
ence to the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday.
"It is the duty of all to obscrve this day," said
Clarence Brantley, of Shelby, president of the
Cleveland County unit of the NAACP.
Mayor Kyle Smith thanked the two representatives
of the large group attending and council voted to refer
the request to the personnel committee for study. "This
committee is already in process of up-dating and re-
viewing holidays and policies," Mayor Smith reported.
Council received a report from the elections board
on results of the Feb. 7th bond vote and approved a
resolution declaring the result. (See story on vote can-
vass.)
City Manager George Wood told council of the op-
portunity afforded by the state to record and maintain
all city records. Council approved adoption of a reso-
lution to accept the states offer, which is provided at
no cost to Kings Mountain.
Turn To Page 2-A
week after Kin
proved a $9.2 million bond referendum, the city is
435,900, $1,502900
$1,
819,369. :
BW
$1,224,704.
a $525,000,
$136,500. dé
3
Ha
KMSHS
KMS GROVER EAST OFFICE
NORTH WEST CENTRAL
TOTAL PROJECT COST: $11,744,379.00
moving ahead with plans for upgrading and expanding
city utilities.
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, voters approved a package
which includes $3.8 million for sewer improvement,
$3.6 million for water improvements and $1.8 million
for electrical improvements.
"We're now in the design and planning stages," said
City Manager George Woods. "The council has autho-
rized the W.K. Dickson engineering firm in Charlotte
to draw up a design plan for the expansion of the Pilot
Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant and the sludge han-
dling equipment.
"The same firm has also been authorized to develop
the design work on the clear well and emergency gen-
erator at the water plant.
"We're working with Southeastern Engineering Inc.
Chart by Joy Day
Photo by Willie Williams
IMPROVEMENTS MADE - This photo shows some of the improvements to the boat landing at Moss
Lake. A new wall has been added to make the area stronger and give more room for boaters to load and
unload. For details, see page 8-A.
Teachers To Decide Gradin
Pool Dedication March 5
Kings Mountain school teachers
will decide soon whether the sys-
tem will stay on a six-weck grad-
ing report schedule or return to a
Kings Mountain school and
community leaders still plan a
March 5 dedication of the
Katherine Neisler Natatorium at
Kings Mountain High School cven
though the pool has not offcially
been handed over to the system by
the contractors.
Asst. Supt. Larry Allen told the
board of education at Monday
night's meeting that there are still
several minor corrections to be
made at the pool, but he "hopes"
that the pool will be turned over to
the schools within two weeks.
Allen said members of a special
committee named to oversee the
operation of the pool drew up a list
of "things still to be taken care of”
and he hopes they'll be done this
week. After that, he said the group
will inspect the pool again and
make another list, if necessary, for
Turn To Page 2-A
ninc-weeks grading system.
Director of Curriculum Janc
King, chairman of a special com-
mittee sclected to propose interim
grading reports if the system re-
turns to a ninc-weeks grading sys-
tem, presented the proposals to the
board at Monday night's meeting at
the Supcrintendent's Office. The
proposed reports were accepted
and will be forwarded to teachers
who will make the final decision
on whether to return to a ninc-
of Charlotte, to get a proposal for design work on the
electrical improvements, " Woods said.
These two firms have been the city's consultants for
a number of years, according to Woods.
The sewer projects include court-ordered sludge
handling equipment at the Pilot Creek Wastewater
Treatment Plant and expansion of the plant capacity by
two million gallons per day.
The water projects include a five million gallon
storage tank and repairs to Moss Dam.
Electrical projects will include improvements creat-
ed by constructing a new substation and upgrading
voltage.
"We can't do anything about Moss Dam until the
state finishes its inspection and gives us a final report
on what we have to do," Woods said.
The sewer bonds also included $500,000 as Kings
Mountain's share of the cost of construction of the re-
gional Crowders Creck Waste Treatment Plant. "The
only thing we have to do in this regard is produce the
funds," he said.
Woods said that it is a little premature to be talking
about actual costs and exact completion dates on the
projects.
The total bond package of $9.23 in utility improve-
ments had been scaled back from an earlier proposal of
$12 million. Orginally, improvements had totaled over
$16 million.
g Period
weeks grading system. $25
Carol Wheeler, Jackie Hope, WATER /SEWER
Hilda Kiser, Joc Rountree, Judy
Gibson, Jim Owens and Priscilla COMBINED $20
Mauncy served on the special com-
mittce with Mrs. King. $15
NEW
The committee talked with many
tcachers, and Supt. Bob McRac
said he talked with a number of
parents, to see which grading sys- $5
tem they preferred. "The parents Hoo
really had no preference as long as : $0
there is an interim report if we re- BNEW
turn to a ninc-weeks period,”
McRac said.
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