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VOLUME 101, NUMBER 9
Re-Districting Possibilities Discussed
Kings
A REPUBLIC TR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1989
KINGS MOUNTAIN, NORTH CAROLINA
Only Six Speak At School Board Hearing
itr
By GARY STEWART
Editor of the Herald
Only six people ad-
dressed the Kings
Mountain Board of
Education at its public
hearing Monday to re-
ceive input on the possi-
bility of re-drawing ele-
mentary school
attendance lines to
achieve racial balance.
The system is cons;der- LE
ing several options be- JIM JENNINGS
KMHS Indoor Pool
Dedication Sunday
Kings Mountain District Schools and Kings
Mountain Indoor Pool Foundation will dedicate the
Kathryn M. Neisler Natatorium at 3 p.m. Sunday at
Kings Mountain Senior High School.
The public is invited.
Free swim sessions for all ages will follow the brief
ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Lifeguards will be on duty.
"We've been looking forward to Sunday for a long
time," said Dr. Scott Mayse who was chairman of the
project which began as far back as 1982 when the
Kings Mountain High School Class of '82 gave $1,000
to the school in hopes that it would one day boast an
indoor pool. The late Kathryn Neisler, whose husband
Paul Neisler helped found Neisler Mills, was an avid
supporter of Kings Mountain High School sports and
the 11,000 square foot facility was named in honor of
Mrs. Neisler.
Fundraising hegan in earnest in 1984 by the Kings
Mountain Indoor Pool Foundation headed by Dr. Scott
Mayse. The response of the community was over-|
whelming. More than $830,000 was raised and some
¥ $880,000 is being obtained through memberships and
‘a second fund drive.
Memorial plaques will be placed throughout the
spacious facility to honor donors. A big sign on the
front of the building labels the facility as Kathryn M.
Neisler Natatorium.
Lee Neisler, president of the Class of 1982 and
grandson of the late Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Neisler Sr.,
will assist Dr. Mayse in giving a history of the project
and Henry Neisler will present the pool from citizens
of Kings Mountain to the Kings Mountain District
Schools. Bill McDaniel, chairman of the KM Board of
Education, KMSHS Principal Jackie Lavender and Dr.
Bob McRae, Superintendent of Schools, will accept.
Other dedicatory remarks will also be made by Jay
Hendricks, vice president of the KMSHS Student
Council, Dr. McRae and Mayor Kyle Smith. Dr.
Mayse, Bill McDaniel and Henry and Charles Neisler,
twin sons of the late Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Neisler Sr.,
will cut the ribbon formally opening the facility to the
ublic.
? Dr. Mayse said that the new facility is almost 100
percent ready for Sunday's opening, which will include
a grand tour of the facility. A telephone was installed
this week and the number is 739-0707 for benefit of
those wanting to schedule swim lessons.
"It's hard to believe it's come about but we are grate-
ful to Kings Mountain area people for making it possi-
ble, an effort of the whole community," said Mayse.
cause the minority ratio at East Elementary is too high,
and the ratio at Bethware School is too low.
The board has discusses seven possibilities in recent
months, and one citizen, Billy Houze of Grover, sug-
gested a possible eighth scenario at Monday's hearing.
Houze suggested moving students in the Patterson
Grove and Gold Run sections from Bethware to North
School; students in the north and east sections of the
North attendance zone to East; and students from the
Pine Manor area from East to West.
"By doing this, you would take be taking some stu-
dents from Bethware, which would automatically raise
the racial imbalance there,” Houze said. "Busing stu-
dents from Northwoods (which was mentioned in one
of the board's initial seven scenarios) to Bethware
would be too long a time for anyone to be on the
road."
Houze suggested that "if and when this is done,
there is some concern that you make sure teachers are
shifted in the same type of balance."
Four other parents spoke. Although none of them
offered a scenario, they all urged the board to do
what's best for the children.
Jim Jennings, who lives in the North district, urged
the board to do some type of re-districting to bring
about a more even racial balance before the beginning
of the 1989-90 school term, and to continue to balance
schools racially during the next several years.
"I'm first and foremost for maintaining the integrity
of the Kings Mountain School System, and to do that
POOL TO BE DEDICATED - The new indoor swimming pool at Kings Mountain High School will be
dedicated Sunday at 3 p.m. The public is invited to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony and tour the build-
ing.
Would Help Fund Walking Track
we must rectify the racial imbalance in our schools,"
he said. "If we don't do this and take it upon ourselves
to do what's just and equitable for all citizens of our
community, we hold ourselves open to criticism. This
kind of criticism could result in us losing our power to
run our own schools and chart the course for our chil-
dren."
Jenning said he felt some of the early options dis-
cussed by the board would alleviate only the racial im-
balance at East School at the expense of North, and
would still leave West and Betware with low ratios.
"These plans are unacceptable to me," he said.
He said some of the scenarios would require a
Turn To Page 9-A
The City of Kings Mountain, defendant in eight liti-
gations involving a half dozen former employees, has
won at the lower court in four of the claims with sum-
mary judgments but appeals have been made by six of
the plaintiffs. Two other cases are pending.
Asserted or unasserted claims against the city range
from a $3 million libel and slander suit filed by former
Mountain Rest Cemetery Supt. Ken Jenkins in 1986 to
to a $35,830 suit filed by former magistrate Lynda
Herndon on Sept. 27, 1988 and a $20,000 plus dis-
crimination suit filed by Patsy Jean Parker on Nov. 7,
1988.
City Manager George Wood said there is presently
pending a worker's compensation action filed by city
employee Jimmy Sisk which has not progressed to a
hearing which would be held by the N. C. Industrial
Commission.
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Wood said an dedon involving Svondale Walls tno Sow
“vs. Southern Railway Co. and the City of Kings
Mountain was settled last month in Federal Court. The
city filed a summary judgment seeking a dismissal of
the action which the city won, said Wood who has not
heard of an appeal. The action sought recovery of a
sum of $71,401.23 from Southern Railway and the
City of Kings Mountain, either jointly or severally af-
ter an accident at Gold Street crossing.
Price Waterhouse, auditors for the city, listed the
following asserted and unasserted claims versus the
City of Kings Mountain in a recent audit:
Turn To Page 7-A
Department Seeks $47,000 Federal Grant
Kings Mountain Parks & Recreation Department is
seeking a $47,000 federal grant to expand Early
Memorial Park.
David Hancock, City Recreation Director, presented
the proposal to the City Council at Tuesday night's
meeting and the Council authorized City Manager
George Wood to file the grant papers by March 3 with
the Land and Water Conservation Department through
the Department of Interior, National Parks Service.
A half-mile, lighted walking track, outdoor am-
phitheater, two picnic shelters with rest rooms and
"band shell" are included in the $94,000 project cost
which would include $22,000 from the city and
$25,000 worth of work by the city, Hancock said.
ICY DAY IN KM - What a difference a few days make. Last weekend, icicles, like these on T.C. "Red"
McKee's home in east Kings Mountain, hung from the rooftops while snow carpeted the lawns. Just a few
days earlier than this, the temperature was in the 80's and a few days later, in the high 60's. But don't plan
any cookouts. The weatherman is calling for a chance of snow again this weekend.
If the grant is approved, construction would begin in
August and be finished by September 1990.
Hancock said the city wanted to add two ball fields
at the 10 acre site on Cleveland Avenue behind the
Fire Museum on property bounded by Branch and
Chestnut Streets in a recreation complex centered by
the Kings Mountain Community Center. After further
discussion with Duke Power officials the feasibility of
modifying Duke's right-of-way and complying with
LWCEF guidelines was remote. "In light of these facts
and knowing how important the walking track compo-
nent of the grant is for citizens I have elected to drop
the ballficlds and develop more of a passive area to in-
clude a band shell/outdoor theater area, playground
KM's First Paid Fire Chief
area, walking track, two picnic shelters and landscap-
ing/arboretum,” Hancock told the City Council.
The Kings Mountain Parks & Recreation
Commission at Monday night's meeting reviewed the
plans and gave approval to the project.
The walking track project, which has been talked by
senior citizens since 1974, would be a compacted
granite dust track and well lighted. A band shell would
allow the city to schedule not only its July 4th activi-
ties there but Mountaineer Day activities in one cen-
tral area of the city. and would also allow a place for
concerts in the park, band concerts, and theater activi-
tics with seats to be constructed in a hillside amphithe-
Turn To Page 7-A
Gene Tignor Retiring
By GARY STEWART
Editor of the Herald
When Kings Mountain Fire Chief Gene Tignor re-
tires April 28, he will end a 16-year tenure as the city's
first full-time chief and a 36-year association with the
fire department.
He'll leave behind a long list of accomplishments
but will take with him a lot of precious memories of
people he has worked for and with, and friends he has
made since his childhood in Kings Mountain.
Quitting a job is a new experience for Tignor, who
laughs and says "quitting is a whole lot harder than
finding a job." Tignor has never filled out an applica-
tion for a job and when he wrote a brief letter of resig-
nation to the City Council recently, it was the first time
he'd ever quit a job.
His first work experience came as a lad, when the
late C.E. Stowe hired him for 10 cents an hour to work
on his farm. After graduating from Kings Mountain
High School in the spring of 1941, he worked for
W.W. Parrish at the Pauline Mill until he went into the
service.
: "He just saw me one day and said, ‘come up to the
mill Monday, I'm putting you to work'," Tignor re-
called. "He did a lot of young boys like that. I gucss
Mr. Parrish and C.F. Stowe and Glenn Grigg were the
best friends I ever had." :
"Quitting is a
whole lot harder
than finding a job."
— Gene Tignor
Tignor earned five battle stars in WW II, and served
under General Dwight D. Eisenhour, who would later
become President of the United States, and General
George Patton.
Tignor participated in the D Day Invasion of
Normandy with Ike's troops and in the Battle of
Bastonne with Patton, who Tignor says was the "best
general the United States ever had." Tignor said actor
George C. Scott did a great job of playing Patton in the
movie several years ago.
"He was 'blood and guts’, that's for sure," Tignor
said. "The men respected him, and he meant business.
He didn't mind losing lives, I guess, but he got the job
done."
Turn To Page 10-A