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WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 1989 y VOL. 101 NO. 19 KINGS MOUNT/ BoE
1 @ to Ww
ON gr
Monday -
Freeze
Gets Crop
Farmers who took precautions
for Monday morning's freeze had
very little crop damage, but those
who did not have freeze protection
lost a large percentage of their
Crops.
Temperatures dipped below
freezing during the early hours of
the morning. The National Weather
Service reported a low of 29 in this
area, and local weather watchers
reported readings from 26 to 31 de-
grees.
Steve Gibson, field crop special-
ist with the County Agriculture
Department, said most field crops
escaped damage, but many veg-
etable crops were killed.
"Surprisingly, even the cotton
crops survived," he said. "Corn
crops survived and it didn't get
cold enough to effect crops such as
oats and barley."
Of the horticulture crops, Gibson
said green beans were virtually
wiped out. Most of those crops will
have to be re-planted.
"As far as peaches and apples, I
don't think they had any more dam-
age than they had already had from
earlier freezes. A lot of the crops
have not emerged from the ground
yet, so they weren't damaged,"
Gibson said.
Debbie Lineberger of Killdeer
Farms, the area's biggest vegetable
producer, said they had very little
damage, but it was because her
husband, Ervin, started irrigating at
Electric
Policy
Changed
Kings Mountain City Council
changed its electric policy Tuesday
night to allow the city to bury pri-
mary electrical lines to new subdi-
visions at no additional charge.
The city's current policy is to
charge new developers the differ-
ence between the cost of installing
overhead lines and underground
lines. Otherwise, the service is pro-
vided at no charge.
"What we are trying to do is to
be more competitive with Duke
Power," said City Manager George
Wood.
Councilman Fred Finger, who is
also a member of the Kings
Mountain Utilities Committee, said
amending the electric policy will
save the city long-term mainte-
nance costs on underground lines
which are much more pleasing to a
neighborhood. The city needs the
profits that come from sale of elec-
tricity and gas and once another
utility company is in the area
Kings Mountain is precluded from
going in and Duke gets ahead of us
on any adjacent property," he said.
The policy question arose in re-
sponse to requests from developers
who asked the city to extend elec-
trical service to Colonial Woods,
near Maner and Phifer Roads, and
Deerwood, located west of
See City, Page 8-A
INSIDE AT A GLANCE
Civil Air Patrol photo
TORNADO DAMAGE - This house is one of many that were destroyed during Friday evening's torna-
does which ripped the upper end of Cleveland County and parts of Lincoln, Catawba, Gaston and Burke
Counties. Over 200 people in the area were left homeless. i
I Membership
1980-81
1981-82
1982-83
- 376
385
395
379
402
412
1983-84
1984-85
382
381
406
360
1985-86
343
338
1986-87
1987-88
=
jE 1082180
284
262
263
286
255
262
(7th month)
eat es rte Lo
East Schoo
Year | 1st Month 9th Month
1979-80 359 347 By GARY STEWART
Editor of the Herald
The Kings Mountain Board of
Education will begin getting seri-
ous about the question of what to
do with East School at a combina-
tion special school board meet-
jing/workshop Tuesday night at the
‘ superintendent's office.
At Monday night's regular board
meeting, the board was told by
Supt. Bob McRae that if construc-
tion plans made possible by the re-
Tornado
KM School Board To Study
Elementary Attendance Lines
Rip County
Damages from Friday's tornadoes which ripped through upper Cleveland
County could reach over $1 million in structural damage in the county and
$60 million in the state.
Federal investigators were in the Cleveland-Lincoln County area
Monday and Tuesday inspecting the area and their findings may help area
citizens receive low-interest government loans and federal grants to rebuild
their homes.
Six deaths were reported in North Carolina and three in Chesnee, S.C.,
after the tornadoes hit a 17-county area. Some of the biggest losses of life
and property were in the small communities lining highways 10 arid 18 in
the Toluca-Belwood- Vale area, where 28 homes were destroyed and 14
damaged. .
Governor Jim Martin and U.S. Congressman Cass Ballenger flew into
the area over the weekend. Martin has applied for federal disaster aid and
has asked President Bush to declare 17 counties as disaster areas.
Ballenger is also asking the president to release federal funds to assist citi-
zens in rebuilding their homes.
"To see firsthand the effects of the tornadoes on the land was startling; to
see the effects on the people who lost their homes, their churches, and their
loved ones was gut-wrenching," Ballenger said.
No deaths were reported in Cleveland County, but some 40 persons were
treated for injuries at Cleveland Memorial Hospital. Mr. and Mrs. Dock
McNeely, who lived just inside the Lincoln County line at Toluca, were
killed when the tornado completely destroyed their home.
Robert Williams and his wife, Elizabeth, both former employees of
Herald Publishing, lost their home in Belwood. They had just returned
home from taking their son, Robert III, to a Boy Scout camp and heard the
tornado approaching, Mr. Williams said they started to the basement and
after going about four steps down the stairs, their house blew away. Mr.
Williams, a freelance writer, lost his entire computer system which includ-
ed two recently-finished books.
Emergency shelters were set up in the county and the Red Cross and
other volunteer organizations are assisting the citizens with food, clothing,
shelter and other necessities.
Ronnie Hawkins of Kings Mountain flew the first surveillance plane in-
to the area for the Civil Air Patrol. Members of his crew, which included
Captain Gene Meade and Ed Spangler, took photos and videos of the dam-
age so Rescue Squads and other volunteers would know what areas to en-
ter. Copies were also flown to the Emergency Operations Center in Raleigh
by Tommy Bridges of Kings Mountain and Sam Sanders of Cherokee
County. | ;
i See Tornado, 2:A
tect Tuesday at 7 p.m. and act on
cent passage of a $30 million coun- (€
final construction/renovation plans
ty-wide school bond referendum
stay on schedule, the board will
have to make a decision on its ele-
mentary attendance lines during
the coming school year.
Passage of the bond referendum
has made it possible for the school
system to go full steam ahead on
its plans to upgrade the junior high
and high school facilities and close
Central as a facility for students.
The board will meet with its archi-
for those two plants. After that part
of the meeting is over, the board
will go into its work session on ele-
mentary attendance lines.
School officials hope work will
be completed on the junior-senior
high plants in time to begin their
new 6-8 middle school and 9-12
high school reorganization at the
start of the 1990-91 school year.
See Schools, 2-A
City Will Be Fined For Sewer Violations
City Council got some bad news and some
good news Tuesday night in its efforts to
comply with a 1984 federal requirement that
cities establish pretreatment programs for
industrial waste.
The bad news was that the state will
assess a fine against the city, maximum
amount up to $30,000 for past violations .
The good news was from City Manager
George Wood who said Division of
Environmental Management officials in
Raleigh Monday indicated the fine could be
lower, $5,000, subject to negotiations in a
Judicial Order of Consent for Pretreatment
Standards which the city requested from
DEM through City Attorney Mickey Corry
in formal resolution Tuesday night .
"I'm very relieved and pleased that the
state acknowledges what we are doing in the
area of sewage extensions,” he said.
Kings Mountain could have been fined
38
PAGES TODAY
5-A
Classifieds. ...... fon Gio,
Community NewS.........c..counee
Editorials... .......oftin srvseaens
Kings Mountain High School Golfers Qualify For State 3-A
Tournament.
Meet Two Of Kings Mountain's
Most Beautiful Mothers
Page 1-B
$10,000 for each of three offenses cited by
the EPA.
After the state assesses the fine against
the city, the city will assess a fine against a
local industry, Buckeye Equipment Inc., at
least equal to the economic benefit it derived
from being out of compliance since March,
1985. This fine would offset the city's fine,
said Wood.
The Judicial Order of Consent will
probably run from May to November or
December, 1989 and that means it will expire
before the first JOC on Pilot Creek
improvements in April, 1990. Wood said the
city has no choice but to enter a second JOC
to provide time to implement a pretreatment
program satisfactory to DEM and EPA.
"The fine against the city is. for past
violations and for the six month's period
before our pretreatment program started. Bear
in mind that our efforts to make these
lems.
New
policy.
When buildings become empty in Kings Mountain
now the Codes Department requires upgrading of elec-
trical service if their in-
spection reveals any prob-
Director Tom Fields said
many houses in Kings
Mountain need the electri-
cal service upgraded be-
cause of age and frayed
wires but many landlords
who don't want to pay for
the improvements are com-
plaining about the strict
"Some of these
older houses in town are
corrections began last July with the current
budget. The JOC would forestall further fines
while we complete the implementation of the
new sewer use ordinance, enforcement
strategy, industrial pretreatment permits, and
interjurisdictional agreements with Gaston
and Cleveland Counties ," Wood told city
council.
"I'm very pleased that the State is
recognizing that we are making some
progress, and, although technically out of
compliance, the JOC will put a stop and give
us more time from the EPA to implement the
program," said Mayor Kyle Smith.
Wood said the regulations went into effect
in 1984 and the city was to have them in
place by 1985. Wood, who became city
manager last May, said the city has been
working on the project the past year.
The regulations affect 26 Kings Mountain
Codes
TOM FIELDS
industries connected to the city's sewage
system.
Buckeye Fire Equipment,Inc., who have
made recent efforts to achieve compliance of
pretreatment standards, was cited by the city
recently for non-compliance and fined
$2500, Wood said.
Attorney Scott Cloninger, representing
' Buckeye Fire Equipment, Inc., told the
Council that Buckeye is just one of the
industries that has come under fire but is
working on having on-line a pre-treatment
facility and are now advertising for an on-site
pre-treatment engineer and are looking at a
consulting firm to look at its operations.
"Buckeye intends to be a good corporate
citizen," he told Councit.
"The city is being targeted for not
enforcing pre-treatment regulations, and
particularly at Buckeye, but 95% of ali our
See Fine, 8-A
Houses Need Upgrading
fire traps. In the past 10 months 44 have been upgrad-
ed. We probably have 4,000 more to go," he said this
week. Fields has requested that City Council approve
in the new year budget money for an inspector for his
department and for another secretary in the Codes-
Planning Department where both Fields and Planning
Director Gene White share a secretary.
A comparison of various permits issued for con-
struction in the Kings Mountain area from July 1, 1988
to April 30, 1989 reveal that 23 new homes were built,
renovations and accessory buildings totaled 62, a total
of 28 new apartments and duplexes went up, 15 com-
mercial buildings were built or are presently under
construction, 10 buildings were torn down, 72 new
roofs were put on and 44 homes were upgraded for
electrical service.
Of the 15 commercial buildings being built in 1989
See Houses, 7-A