Vol. 101 No. 51
LE
FIREMEN FIGHT APARTMENT BLAZE-Kings Mountain fire-
men, above, fight a blaze in 16 degree temperatures at Pine Manor
Apartments on Charles Street.
The fire, which started early
Saturday in an upstairs bedroom by two young boys playing with
matches, quickly spread and it was nearly two hours before the 55
firemen could contain it and kept it from spreading into the large
i Hugo, Tornado
« Big News In '89
Mother Nature topped the news
in Kings Mountain in 1989 and as
1990 sneaks around the corner
she's still proving thay /you can't
fool her.
The weather in '89 went from
freezing cold to over 80 degrees,
and back to freezing cold again, to
tornadoes, a hurricane, plenty of
“rain, and back 1 cold again.
Aréa ¥ esidénts thought they had
seen it all when a May 5 tornado
ripped the upper end of the county
and 16 other counties in North
Carolina. Damages were reported
at over $60 million in the state and
well over $1 million in structural
damage alone in a small area of
Cleveland County near Toluca.
Homes were ripped apart and two
people in the county died when the
tornado demolished their home
with them inside of it.
President Bush declared
Cleveland County and most of the
other 16 counties hit by the tornado
as a disaster area.
But the tornado was nothing to
compare with Hurricane Hugo,
which came over 250 miles inland
in September and affected just
about everyone in the area. Only a
small number of homes in the area
did not lose power during the 90-
plus mile per hour winds which
blew down eclectrical lines and
trees and even destroyed some
homes.
Weather officials warned the
night before that the hurricane
would hit around Charleston, S.C.,
and could come inland. But not
many people in Kings Mountain
took them seriously.
Over 3,800 homes in Kings
Mountain were out of electricity.
Most area citizens had their power
restored within two to five days but
some residents of the Charlotte
area were without power for a
month or more. Electricians came
from other states to Kings
Mountain and surrounding towns
to help restore power.
It took city street crews several
weeks to clear the debris which
residents placed on the curb side,
and some minor cleanup continues
even today.
sekok
Weather was a big story the en-
tire year. Kings Mountain had en-
joyed mild winters for several
years but was greeted this
December by freezing rain, sleet
and even some snow...and very,
very cold temperatures. In the days
leading up to Christmas, the tem-
perature during the day time
reached only the teens and night-
time temperatures hovered close to
zero with wind chills up to minus
20.
During the year, Kings Mountain
got over 57 inches of rain, almost
20 inches above normal for this
area. In 1988, the area received on-
ly 36 inches.
In February, the first ice storm of
1988 left 1,200 residents without
power. Just a few days later, the
temperature topped the 80- -degree
mark.
seks
While the weather was the top
headline-grabber in '89, there were
a lot of other stories competing for
top play.
An embezzlement investigation
at City Hall resulted in charges
filed against two former city em-
ployees and those two, plus two
others, were instructed to pay the
city over $90,000, including pay
for utility bills which they said a
former supervisor said they did not
have to pay in lieu of working
overtime.
The city voters narrowly passed
a $9.2 million bond issue for im-
provements to the utility system.
Voters in Kings Mountain and
Cleveland County approved a $40
million bond issue for school con-
struction and improvements. Kings
Mountain will get $10 million over
the next several years to finance
construction and renovations at all
of its facilities.
Voters elected new faces to the
city council and school board. Fred
Finger was re-elected to city coun-
See 1989, Page 9-A
PHOTO BY DIETER MELHORN
complex. Two firemen were hurt. No residents were injured. Twenty
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ire Destroys
8 Apartments
At Pine Manor
Two eight and nine-year-old
boys playing with matches on bunk
beds in an upstairs bedroom of
Apt. 38 at Pine Manor Apartments
started a fire which gutted eight
units of public housing and left 20
people homeless Saturday morn-
ing, according to reports of Kings
Mountain Fire and Police
Department.
Sgt. James Camp, of the Kings
Mountain Police Department, and
authorities with the Cleveland
County Department of Social
Services, are continuing their in-
vestigation into the fire and possi-
ble child neglect involving the mi-
nors. The two children, one of
whom was a holiday guest, were
alone in the house at the time, in-
vestigators said. Police said they
were told that a neighbor was
watching the children while the
parents had gone to Statesville.
No residents of the big subsi-
dized housing project on Charles
Street, owned and operated by U.
S. Shelter of Charlotte, were in-
jured and all families were either
moved into vacant apartments on
the premises or have moved into
homes of relatives.
Willard Yarborough Jr., pump
engineer with Kings Mountain Fire
Department, was treated at the hos-
pital and released. He was trapped
underneath the burning part of a
24x14 foot of roof that fell on him
and knocked him off a ladder.
Yarborough suffered first degree
burns on his face and a sprained
wrist.
Philip Greene, a volunteer with
KMED, slipped on ice in 16 degree
weather and hurt his knee.
Firemen and police salvaged
Christmas gifts, radios and stereos
and furnishings in the first floor
people, left in the cold and homeless, were moved into other apart-
ments af the housing project and two of the families sre living with
relatives. Firemen estimate more than $200,000 in yroperty dam-
ages, excluding furnishings. Some Christmas presengs, pictures and
first-floor furnishings werasalinged. More fire pictiff es on Page 6A.
} . i en 4 fi HY ) rt
pic plex a 8:56
T]
Photo by Dieter Melhorn
CHASE ENDS IN MULTIPLE CHARGES - State patrolmen place Leon Keith Hall, 22,
of Brooklyn, N.Y., into a patrol car following a high speed chase Wednesday afternoon in
Kings Mountain. Hall, recently released from prison in Alabama, was charged with
allegedly stealing a car in Columbus, Ga., and leading police on a chase up to 109 miles
per hour through Kings Mountain. Police said the chase started on I-85, wound its way
through back roads and onto the Highway 74 bypass. Charges included speeding, no
operator's license, reckless driving, alluding arrest, possession of a stolen vehicle and
resisting arrest. More charges may be pending by Kings Mountain police.
Stocking Fills
Kings Mountain's first Empty Stocking Fund in sev-
eral years was a huge success, raising almost $4,000
and helping a large number of children and their fami-
lies in the Greater Kings Mountain area.
The final week's contributions came to $525, mak-
ing the final total $3,988.17.
Empty Stocking volunteers, led by chairman
Margaret Dilling, spent much of their time over the
past several weeks getting the names and addresses of
needy families in the area and purchasing clothing,
food and other necessities. Items were distributed last
Thursday.
This week's contributions:
Janet Falls, $25.
Mary Lee Bridgeman, in memory of her father,
Boyce Patterson, $25.
whom were injured, battied the
biaze which was reported by a resi-
dent of the fn -rent hogan com-
Fifty-five Bre of
rm
rooms of the apartments as well as
pictures hanging on the walls.
"Fortunately, two of
ments wee vacant al
See Hive, Hage 11
Stacey Hurt
In Fighting
Christmas Day was extra special for Mr. and Mrs.
Jerry Stacey. Their 21-year-old son Ronald was alive
and well and home for Christmas in Kings Mountain
with them and his two-year-old dan gher, Priscilla.
Specialist Stacey was one of the |
thousands of U. S. Army paratroop-
ers with ‘the 82nd Airborne
Division from Fort Bragg dis-
patched by President Bush to
Panama in the early hours of Dec.
18. Jumping from a parachute at
dark into the jungles was nothing
like the training exercises he had
completed in paratrooper school.
Would he do it again? "You bet,"
he told his father who went to Fort
Bragg last week to greet. young
Stacey on his arrival with a Purple Heart and injuries
to an arm hit by shrapnel in the fighting in Panama on
the first day of the invasion by American troops .
"Although he can't talk about his experience much,
he told us he was glad to be a part of the invasion and
hated to leave his friends behind after he was hit and
had to be brought back to San Antonio, Texas for treat-
ment," said the elder Stacey, himself a Vietnam veter-
an of 17 years service.
They (the U. S.)just went into Panama and did what
they had to do and Panama wasn't prolonged like
Vietnam," said the elder Stacey, who runs a body shop
in Kings Mountain. "I'd go back myself if I could and I
know our son feels the same way." The younger
Stacey returned to Kings Mountain and spent
Christmas Day with his family. He will return this
weekend and spend the rest of his two-weeks conva-
lescent leave and then take his young daughter home
with him.
At $3,988.17
Mr. and Mrs. Bobby D. Dyer, $25.
Danny and Julie Crawford, $25.
Jerry and Judith Blalock, $15.
The Charles Ramsey family, in honor of the George
Shinn family, $100.
Mr. and Mrs. C.D. Ware, in memory of Lemuel
Ware and James Crawford, $50.
I Eugene and Jeanette Patterson, $50.
Anonymous, $10.
Anonymous, $100.
Anonymous, $50.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard Bryant, $50.
440)
—
STACEY
This week's total, $525.00
Previous total, $3,463.17
Final total, $3,988.17
he apart-
he time,