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VOL. 101 NO. 43
-Since 1889-
Member NC
Press Association
Thursday, November 2, 1989
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KM To Recover Almost $100,000
Phillips: There Was
District 6 City Commissioner Harold Phillips la-
beled as "false" accusations by some citizens that the
Smith Administration was covering up an investiga-
tion into missing funds in the city utilities department.
Phillips made the statement at the close of Tuesday's
|. night city board meeting. :
"I have a matter of great concern that I would like to
| get cleared up, both with the press and the community,
| he said.
NRE
Er Or An Ia
No Cover-Up
"During the past week, I and some of my friends
have received numerous phone calls accusing this
board of commissioners and this administration of
covering up and using our influence on the sentences |
that these former employees of the City of Kings |
Mountain received recently on the charges that were
brought against them.
See Phillips, 11-A
Kings Mountain will recover nearly $100,000 from
four former city utility employees following a 3 1/2
month investigation into missing funds by city police,
State Bureau of Investigation and city auditors.
According to City Attorney Mickey Corry, the four
ran up more than $36,000 in unpaid utility bills. They
allege a supervisor told them for eight years not to
pay the bills in compensation of overtime work.
Two of the four employees are now retired. One quit
during the investigation and one was fired. Two of the
four also recently pleaded guilty to embezzling more
than $56,000 in city funds. Judy Harmon and Dianne
Dellinger were both indicted by a Cleveland County
Grand Jury and each plead guilty in court recently and
received a five-year suspended sentence.
Corry said that restitution would total $98,506.35.
This week the city received restitution regarding
the utility payments from retired employee Grace C.
Wolfe for $17,931.18; from former employee Judy
Harmon for $10,396.12 and from retired employee
Margaret Wilson for $6,864.61. Former employee
Dianne Dellinger still owes $1,169.90. All are former
veteran employees of the city utilities department.
After meeting in closed session for more than two
See City, 11-A
City Election
Next Tuesday
Kings Mountain voters will re-
turn to the polls Tuesday for the
run-off election for two city coun-
cil seats.
In District 6, newcomer Scott
Neisler will again try to take the
most votes and unseat incumbent
Harold Phillips. In the Oct. 10
election, Neisler led Phillips by
256 votes. The vote total was:
Phillips, 328; Neisler, 584.
Four-term District 2 councilman
Humes Houston is being chal-
lenged by newcomer Elvin Greene.
In the Oct. 10 vote, Houston led
the three-man ticket with 591 votes
with Greene following at 382 and
Gilbert Hamrick placing third with
277.
Polls open at East Kings
Mountain Precinct at the
Community Center and West Kings
PHILLIPS NEISLER
SCHOOL BOARD FORUM - William Davis, left, moderates a fo-
rum for school board candidates Monday night at B.N.. Barnes.
Auditorium. Candidates, seated left to right, are Calvin Miller,
Ni
Ld
i
n the Kings Mountain Board of
Education participated in a
Chamber of Commerce-sponsored
forum Monday night at B.N.
Barnes Auditorium.
Over 100 citizens crowded into
the auditorium lecture room to hear
the candidates give their opinions
on such issues as SAT scores,
school transportation, equality in
the schools, participation in Senate
Bill 2, merit pay for teachers and
Eignt candidates for three seats
M School Candidat
the board's nepotism policy.
William Davis, former superin-
tendent of Kings Mountain
‘Schools, was moderator. Questions
. were printed on index cards prior
to the meeting and no questions
were allowed from the floor.
Incumbent Priscilla Mauney
faces Tom Bennett for an inside-
city seat and incumbent Paul Hord
Jr. and newcomers Billy Houze,
Ronnie Hawkins, Larry McDaniel,
Wanza Davis and Calvin Miller are
Larry McDaniel, Billy Houze, Pa
11 Hord, Ronnie Hawkins, Wanza
Davis, Priscilla Mauney and Tom Bennet. (4 5
seeking two outside-city seats.
Board chairman Bill McDaniel,
who holds one of the two outside-
city seats, is not seeking re-elec-
tion.
Most candidates had similar
opinions on most questions asked,
however, there were some differ-
ences of opinion.
Most candidates agreed that too
much emphasis is placed on SAT
scores and said it is not fair to
compare one system's or state's
KM School Board Race Tuesday
A total of 8,170 voters in the
Kings Mountain School District
are registered to vote in Tuesday's
election to decide three seats open
on the board of education and elec-
tion officials predict a 35% turnout
at the polls.
The three seats up for grabs in-
clude one inside-city seat and two
outside-city seats on the board.
Voters will vote for three candi-
dates among eight running for elec-
tion.
Incumbent Priscilla Mauney is
See Questions
On Page 1-C
being challenged for her seat on
the board by Tom Bennett.
Running for two seats on the
board are incumbent Paul Hord Jr.
and challengers Ronnie Hawkins,
Wanza Yelton Davis, Billy D.
. Houze, Vernon (Larry) McDaniel,
and Calvin C. Miller.
County Elections Board
Chairman Debra Blanton said that
the four polling places will open at
6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.
At Bethware, where voters will
cast ballots at David Baptist
Church Fellowship Hall, a total of
1,178 school district voters are reg-
istered. At Grover, where citizens
will vote at Grover Rescue Squad,
1,058 citizens are registered to
vote. At East Kings Mountain,
where voters will vote at KM
See School, 13-A
Grover To Elect Three
Grover voters will go to the polls Tuesday to elect
three members of the town board of commissioners.
Six candidates are running for three seats.
A total of 257 citizens are registered to vote in the
town board election. Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close -
at 7:30 p.m. at Grover Rescue Squad where Doris
McDaniel is registrar.
Incumbent Commissioners Jim Howell and Donald
Rich are being challenged by Carmel Honeycutt,
Norman King, Dwana (Dee Dee) Ellison, and Timothy
Rowland. Three seats are open on the board, including
the seat of the late Grady Ross. Terms of Mayor W. W.
McCarter, Mayor Pro Tem Ronald Queen and commis-
sioner Sandra Ellis will expire in 1991. The council
members are elected to four year terms. Four of the six
candidates reside in Spring Acres. King is a former 22-
year veteran on the Kings Mountain board of commis-
sioners.
Grover voters will also be voting for three members
of the KM District Board of Education where eight
candidates are running. In Grover, 1,058 voters are
registered to vote in the school board election and all
registered voters, except those living in the town lim-
its, will also be deciding membership on the Cleveland
County Sanitary District where five people are running
for three seats on that board which merged with the
Piedmont Water District.
Elections Board Chairman Debra Blanton points
out that voters on Stewart Road and Dixon Road who
HOWELL
RICH ELLISON KING
vote at Grover, and voters living south of the
Bethlehem community who vote at Bethware, can al-
so vote in the Sanitary District election as well as
some voters residing in East Kings Mountain who cast
ballots at the Community Center.
Blanton advised voters to check with registrars at
the polling places if they have questions about any of
the elections.
i
FRERG
scores against another's.
"The SAT should be used on an
individual basis to know where to
go with each individual student,”
McDaniel said. "All school sys-
tems don't have the same students
with the same problems."
Houze said local and state SAT
scores need to be improved, but
that SAT scores are not "true indi-
cators” of a student's progress. "We
See Forum, Page 13-A
Obituaries.........2-
Editorials..........4-
SPOTS... Lu. vis ain B=
Schools.............1-
Classifieds........8-
Engagements ....%-
Food .\...............B-
Weddings..........3-
34
Pages Today
SOOWEE Eb
Mountain Precint at the National
Guard Armory at 6:30 a.m. and
close at 7:30 p.m. A total of 4,800
citizens are registered td vote.
Since the city has recently /bought
electronic voting machines, the
counting should be over soon and
the results will be posted about 8
p.m. at City Hall.
Mrs. Cook estimates that 30% of
registered voters will cast a ballot.
She reminds that citizens voting at
the Community Center should
drive to the back entrance to vote
in the gymnasium, large enough to
accommodate both city and county
voter booths and election officials.
Kings Mountain city voters can al-
so cast ballots for three school
board members and some East KM
HOUSTON | GREENE
\
| residents can vote for three com-
missioners for the Cleveland
County Sanitary = Distric
Incumbents J. Doc Turner, Daniel
Lattimore and Maynard Ledford
are being challenged by Bobby G.
Austell and Edwin A. Patterson Jr.
The runners-up in the city elec-
tion Oct. 10 asked for runoffs since
the first place finishers didn't have
a majority of the votes.
Neisler is a sales executive at
Dicey Fabrics in Shelby.
Phillips is a retired superinten-
dent of Craftspun Yams.
Greene is a supervisor at
See Election, 11-A
City Going On With Plans
To Renovate Old Post Office
City Council Tuesday took the
first step to convert the city's old
post office to a long-awaited law
enforcement center by authorizing
Mayor Kyle Smith to appoint a
new ad hoc committee to recom-
mend an architectural firm for the
renovation project estimated to
cost $300,000. Kings Mountain
officials hope the renovation pro-
ject can start in July and be com-
pleted over the next 18 to 24
months.
Last month the city made the
last payment on the old post office
building at the corner of Mountain
and Piedmont streets. The building
cost the city $90,000.
When city police move from the
old historical site on Piedmont
Avenue the building is expected to
be utilized by the Chamber of
Commerce and the KM Historical
Association,
Mayor Smith said he will ap-
point three commissioners to the
See Post, 12-A
Stocking Fund Begins
For the first time in several years, Kings Mountain will have an Empty Stocking
Fund this year to benefit needy children and others at Christmas.
The fund is being co-sponsored by the Kings Mountain Ministerial Association
and the Kings Mountain Herald and is being kicked off this week.
Margaret Dilling is chairman of the committee which is heading the fund drive,
and Tom Tate of Home Federal Savings and Loan is treasurer. Other members of
the committee are Bill Russell, Denese Stallings, Dot Hayes, Hallie Blanton, Jonas
Bridges and Gary Stewart.
The public is asked to contribute to the fund by taking their donations to Home
Federal Savings and Loan and depositing them into a special account there, or by
mailing them to the Empty Stocking Fund, P.O. Box 1491, Kings Mountain, N.C.
28086.
The Empty Stocking Fund was the idea of Dot Hayes, a retired Kings Mountain
magistrate who in the past has contributed to the Empty Stocking Fund in Shelby. |
After retiring, she felt a need to start such a fund in Kings Mountain and made
arrangements through Rev. Harwood Smith, president of the Ministerial
Association, to be the sponsor.
The project will be a special Christmas division of the Ministerial Association
and will not conflict with other fund-raising activities in that organization, such as
the Helping Hand Fund. The bulk of the money raised through the
such as buying food or other items for the needy.
of donations received will be published on the front page of
the Kings Mountain Herald. Donations may be made in
in the paper.
Empty Stocking Fund will go to provide Christmas for children, |
however, in special cases the funds may also go to other needs |
Each week between now and Christmas, a running total |
honor and/or memory of someone and may also be made |
anonymously if the donor does not want his name published |
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