North Carolina Newspapers

    {
First Federal To Convert
To Capital Stock Company
)
-Since 1889-
Member NC
Press Association
VOL. 101 NO. 44’
KM Voters
Neisler, Greene
On City Council
Kings
Mountain voters
“ousted two incum-
bent city commis-
sioners Tuesday,
electing Scott
Neisler by a nearly
2-1 margin over
‘bent Harold
Phillips and Elvin
Greene by 15
votes over five-term incumbent Humes Houston as
1,587 citizens went to the polls.
Tuesday's runoff meant that Fred Finger in District 5
was the only incumbent to survive this year's election.
Voters backed Finger by a slim margin of victory in
the October Primary but forced the two other incum-
bents into runoffs after Neisler led Phillips in District 6
and Houston held a considerable lead over Greene in
District 2.
Neisler, 33, sales executive at Dicey Fabrics in
Shelby, and Greene, 45, supervisor at Buckeye Fire
Equipment Co., are both newcomers to the political
arena and youngest of the 10 candidates who sought
three seats up for grabs at City Hall this election year.
A jubilant Greene and his supporters, including
family and church members, burst into the spiritual,
"Feeling Mighty Fine" as election board members
Becky Cook, James Carroll and Philip Hager posted
runoff returns at City Hall Tuesday night about 8:30
p.m. "Praise The Lord I won" shouted Greene as he
lifted his hands in the air in a victory sign and his fam-
ily hugged and kissed him. Greene said he had told
supporters if he won they would join in singing the
spiritual, "Feeling Mighty Fine, I've Got Heaven On
My Mind" on election night. " I make good on my
NEISLER GREENE
promises,” he said.
See City, 3-A
two-term incum- |
Thursday, November 9, 1989
Election race for three seats on the boar
seats on Grover town board.
ELECTION DAY VOTING BRISK-Roy Bell Jr., casts his vote at
the Grover precinct where 342 people vojiad in thie KM Board of
and 133 voted for three
Gary H. Whitaker, President of
First Federal Savings and Loan
Association of Kings Mountain, re-
; ports that the
Board of
Directors has
adopted a pro-
posed plan of
Conversion to
convert the
Association
from a federal
mutual savings
and loan associa-
tion to a federal
capital stock
savings and loan holding company
formed for such purposes.
It is the desire of the
Associations Board of Directors to
attract new capital to First Federal
to increase net worth the availabili-
ty of funds for lending and invest-
ment purposes, and to provide
greater resources for the expansion
of customer services. The reorgani-
zation of the converted Savings
Bank as a subsidiary of a holding
company will facilitate the diversi-
WHITAKER
The proposed conversion of
First Federal will be accomplished
pursuant to the rules and regula-
tions of the Office of Thrift
Supervision (the successor to the
Federal Home Loan Bank Board)
authorizing federally insured sav-
ings institutions to convert from
mutual to stock form and the regu-
lations promulgated thereunder.
The conversion of the
Association is subject to the ap-
proval of the Office of Thrift
Supervision. The conversion is also
subject to approval by a majority
of the votes eligible to be cast by
the associations members at a
Social Meeting at which the pro-
posed Plan of Conversion will be
submitted for their approval. A
proxy statement giving the full de-
tails of the Plan of Conversion will
be sent to the associations mem-
bers prior to the meeting of mem-
bers.
Whitaker stated that the normal
business of First Federal in accept-
ing savings and making loans will
continue without interruption and
fication of future operations and in-
vestment opportunities.
Senator Harris To Speak
At Veteran's Day Service
Kings Mountain Senator J. Ollie Harris will make
the address at the community-wide Veterans Day ser-
vice Saturday at 10 a.m. in Veterans Park of Mountain
Rest Cemetery.
Mayor Kyle Smith said the City of Kings Mountain
is sponsoring the service in cooperation with local vet-
erans groups and Colonel Frederick Hambright
Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution.
Mayor Smith will preside at the service and present
Senator Harris.
Several members of the Kings Mountain Senior
High School Chorus will present special patriotic mu-
sic, including "The National Anthem" and a color
guard from the Kings Mountain Fire Department will
present the colors. Trumpeter Paul Fulton will play
"Taps."
Mis Hilda Goforth, president of American Legion
Auxiliary Unit 155, and Mrs. Louise Roberts, Regent
of Colonel Frederick Hambright Chapter DAR, will
join Mayor Smith and Senator Harris in placing a
wreath in memory of deceased veterans and in honor
of living veterans of all wars.
The graves in Veterans Park will be marked with
United States flags which have been donated by veter-
ans groups and the ceremony will be held in front of
the memorial cross in the cemetery.
"We invite the entire community to come out for
this short service which is a tribute to all veterans,”
| “id Smith.
See First, 2-A
all For Chang
Houze First Black:
~~ On School Board
Rev. Billy Houze of Grover be-
came the first black elected to the
Kings Mountain Board of
Education Tuesday as a record
number of voters returned Priscilla
Mauney to her seat on the board
and also elected newcomer Ronnie
Hawkins.
"This is a great day,” said
Houze, pastor of Lawndale Baptist
Church, "There was history being
harmony to the board."
Two new faces will be on the
Grover Town Board in December.
Grover voters in Tuesday's elec-
tion rejected the reelection bid of
incumbent Don Rich, returned
incumbent Jim Howell to his seat
on the board and elected two new
commissioners-Timothy Rowland
and W. Norman King.
King, former, veteran commis-
sioner on the Kings Mountain City
VICTORY SMILES-Scott Neisler, left, and Elvin Greene smile broadly as they congratulate each other
after winning election to the city board of commissioners. The first-time political contenders swept to vic-
tory as 1,587 voters went to the polls Tuesday and gave Neisler an almost 2-1 victory over the incumbent in
District 6 and Greene less than a one percent margin of of victory over the incumbent in District 2.
made. I'm not so concerned about history,
though, as I am about cohesiveness and
“I'm really looking forward to working
with the other board members," said Hawkins
who was excited at winning his first elective
office. As a new board member, Hawkins said
Two New At Grover
\ Council from Ward 4, will bring more than 22
lyears of experience on a town council to the
Grover board, King, who retired from
“=Southern Bell Telephone Company, and his
ON NIR SONIY
41 S 00]
JOWER XANAVR
INORQH:
980872
“HAV
LIVIGIT TVI
C. 28086
eS
KING
MAUNEY
HAWKINS
he would target the system's dropout rate and
drug problems as his first priorities and give
the same dedication he has given to
community service to programs benefiting
See Howze, 2-A
HOWELL KING
ROWLAND
Acres in Grover.
See GROVER, 3-A
Council
To Study
Gas Rate
Kings Mountain City Council
will consider a long-term gas con-
tract for what City Engineer Tom
Howard terms "a more favorable
gas rate for cur customers” at a
special meeting Monday night at
7:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Heath and Associates, the city's
natural gas consultants, are expect-
ed to attend the meeting to recom-
mend a project for expansion of
gas lines. A representative of
Enron Company, the gas supplier
with whom the city has been nego-
tiating, will also make a presenta-
tion to commissioners.
Kings Mountain is in process of
extending gas lines down
Cherryville Road to Chestnut
Meadows and has completed gas
line extensions into Mountain
Manor Sub-Division. After com-
pleting major water line work on
Castlewood and Edgemont Drives,
paving of those two streets will be-
gin, said Howard in a construction
project report to members of the
See GAS, 3-A
The Past Is Gone, But It Still Hurts
When Mattie (not her real name) was growing up in
a family of three girls and seven boys in South
Carolina, she wondered why other kids got presents
and clothes at Christmas and she didn't get any.
Her family was poor. Her father, an alcoholic,
wouldn't accept things from other people. Her mother
mis-treated her and "put me out.” For almost 10 years,
until she was 22 years old, she lived in a girls school
and although things were somewhat better there, she
still felt neglected and poor.
The only Christmas present she remembers ever re-
ceiving at home was a doll and its face was broken.
"To this day, I never remember my momma ever giv-
ing me anything for Christmas," she says.
"I felt rejected all the time," says Mattie. "I know it's
in the past but it still hurts," she says as tears swell her
eyes and her voice chokes.
Mattie, now 52, lives in Kings Mountain with her
husband. Both have numerous health problems. He
works in a mill, but it's not running full time and his
small check barely covers the rent and utilities on their
small, sub-standard rental apartment.
Mattie, who is a diabetic, has kidney problems and
arthritis and suffered a stroke last December, raises
two of her grandchildren. One is in elementary school
and the other is two. The two-year-old has a liver
problem and must have a lot of protein in her diet. It's
Empty
Stocking
> Fund
difficult to keep food fresh for her because their old re-
frigerator, which she bought used for $30, doesn't have
a door on it.
All of the love that Mattie missed as a child is
poured into her two grandchildren. "I met the Lord in
1984 and all I've got is Him and these two grand-ba-
bies," she says.
Needless to say, Mattie and her husband have no
funds to buy their grandchildren Christmas presents or
any extras that most other youngsters take for granted.
Her husband's last paycheck, $173 for two weeks
work, wasn't even enough to pay the rent.
The children need clothes and would love some pre-
sents from Santa Claus. Not anything big. Things like
tricycles, puzzles, coloring books, bedroom shoes,
Barbie dolls, skates, maybe a tea set and a table and
chairs.
The whole family is in need of clothing, bed clothes
and curtains. The family sleeps on mattresses on the
floor because they can't afford a bed. Their curtains are
old blankets and sheets hanging over the windows.
Your contribution to the Kings Mountain Empty
Stocking Fund will help children and families like this.
The project is a special Christmas division of the
Kings Mountain Ministerial Association and will ben-
efit people in the Greater Kings Mountain area. Mail
your check, which is tax deductible, to the Empty
Stocking Fund, P.O. Box 1491, Kings Mountain, N.C.
28086, or deposit it in the special Empty Stock Fund
account at Home Federal Savings and Loan in Kings
Mountain.
You'll not only make Christmas brighter for Mattie
and her two grandchildren, and many others like them,
but it'll also be your best Christmas ever.
school children and teachers in the system.
wife, Ruth, built a retirement home in Spring
fT i ——
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