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Page 2A-THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday, August 23, 1990
'Fiscally Irresponsible’
U. S. Congressman Cass
Ballenger Wednesday blasted
Congress as "fiscally irresponsible"
and blamed political maneuvering
as the reason legislators can't come
up with a balanced budget.
The 10th District Republican
made the remarks at the luncheon
meeting of Kings Mountain Board
of Realtors.
He said he supports a proposal
to give members of Congress four-
year terms instead of two-year
terms and that they be limited to
serving a total of 12 years and de-
fended his vote for a pay raise for
himself and other members of
Congress because the bill included
an ethics package which prohibits
Congressmen from accepting hon-
orariums and cuts out any outside
income, He called the bill a "good
way to clean house."
"What's wrong with Congress is
Congress," he told the crowded
room of realtors. Extra tables had
to be put up by the staff of Holiday
Inn to handle the crowd.
One of the proposals coming be-
fore the 101st Congress is raising
gasoline taxes, "We can't do that
now because the Persian Gulf crisis
has put the screws on everything,
He said that when Congress returns
to Washington in September that
he expects dozens 'of bills to deal
with prize gouging by oil compa-
nies,
Responding to questions,
Ballenger said the S&L crisis with
the U. S. taxpayers bailing out de-
positors is turning into one of the
country's worst nightmares. "We
are losing a billion dollars a
month."
Some other remarks he made
during the question-answer session
following his speech:
+Ballenger voted for the Vento-
Ridge amendment (H. R, 1180)
which passed the House by 418-2,
This bill would add a risk-based
premium surcharge of 0.5 percent
per year to the current 3.8 percent
premium surcharge on loans with
less than a 10 percent down pay-
ment, The bill would require
homebuyers to pay two-thirds of
their closing costs in cash,
Currently these can be financed
through the term of the loan. The
Senate approved similar legislation
last month, he said. Ballenger said
Congressman Blasts Congress
REALTORS HEAR BALLENGER-Kings Mountain Board of
Realtors President Bobby Maner, left, welcomes U.S. Congressman
Cass Ballenger to Wednesday's meeting of the Board of Realtors.
the Vento/Ridge amendment would
increase the capital ratio of the
MMIF to 1.25 percent in 24
months and up to 2.0 percent with-
in 10 years, The amendment would
create a pay-as-you-go system, in-
cluding a 1.35 percent up front pre-
mium that could be financed, and
an annual premium of 0,06 percent
over the life of the loan. In addi-
tion, it would maintain the current
down payment requirement and fi-
nancing of closing costs. No mort-
gage would be allowed to exceed
the market value of the property.
Ballenger said the most likely ac-
tion will include a joint
House/Senate conference commit-
tee to meet to work out the differ-
ences in the two bills.
+Ballenger is a co-sponsor of H.,
R, 461, a bill to reduce the capital
gains tax from 28 percent to 15
percent, and H. R, 719, a bill to in-
dex the cost basis of capital gains
for inflation, He said that
Republicans in the House will be
pushing hard to make sure a capital
gains reduction is included in the
end- of- the -year omnibus budget
bill,
+Ballenger is co-sponsor of H,
Con, Res. 37 which states that the
mortgage interest deduction should
not be eliminated or further limit-
ed. He said he wants to go.on
record in support of the deduction
and announce his opposition to any
proposal to tamper with it,
+One area of concern for real-
tors, he said, is a proposal to re-
strict or eliminate the federal tax
deduction for state and local in-
come property taxes for joint filers
with a $10,000 cap. This was one
of several different tax options un-
der review. He said it was leaked in
the media and never officially
placed on the table for discussion
but said that because of opposition
it doesn't look like it will be seri-
ously considered.
+He opposes passage of H. R.
4000, Civil Rights Act of 1990.
The Senate approved its version of
the bill on July 18 by vote of 65-
34. The House passed the vote by
272-154 on Aug. 3. The President
has indicated he would veto H.R.
4000 because the bill mandates
quotas and advocates essentially
unlimited compensatory and puni-
tive damages. The House vote was
12 short of the two-thirds needed
to override a veto. The Senate vote
was within two votds of the 67 nec-
Retired KM Mail Carrier
Honored For Safe Driving
Retired rural mail carrier Bill
McDaniel has an enviable driving
record-one million miles of safe
driving without a chargeable acci-
dent,
McDaniel was presented the
award from the North Carolina
Safety Council Monday in a pre-
sentation by Postmaster Mike
Howard in front of McDaniel's
"old station" in the mailroom of the
U. S. Postoffice on Gaston Street.
McDaniel retired on Sept. 1,
1989 after 30 years with the Kings
Mountain Postoffice.
But, he hasn't stopped driving,
Since retirement he is racking up
the miles as a tour driver for
American Charters of Gastonia and
he and his wife, Helen, have taken
numerous Kings Mountain area
families on tours of scenic areas
from as far distant as Nova Scotia,
Canada, Lake Michigan, New York
City, and on Friday will depart for
a nine-day tour of Boston,
Massachusetts. .
The Bethlehem Community na-
tive went to work for American
Charters about eight years ago on a
part-time basis. McDaniel has
recorded more than 200,000 miles
TT ER
Enrollment From Page 1-A
12th grades, it was an excellent
opening of school," McRae said.
"Our teachers and staff members
worked tremendously hard to get
ready and I've heard a lot of good
comments from all the schools."
McRae said he can't pinpoint
why the enrollment increased so
much.
"We weren't really expecting
that many more students," he said,
"I thought we may have 15 or 20
more at most. I'm not sure if it's
citizens moving in or what but
they've come from somewhere. I
do think we've had an increase in
people wanting to come from other
systems but that won't account fot :
all of them. y ;
"It's been a real good start," he
added. "Anytime you go into the
kind of changes we've had this year
there are some complications. But
our people have worked real hard
and the parents have been coopera-
tive."
LOGS MILLION MILES SAFELY-Retired mailman Bill
McDaniel, left, is presented his safety plaque from the N. C. Safety
Council after logging one million miles of safe driving during his
30- year tenure with Kings Mountain Post Office. KM Postmaster
Mike Howard makes the presentation.
on the big tour bus which seats
from 38-44 passengers.
McDaniel also retired last year
after service on the Kings
Mountain Board of Education, for
a number of years as chairman.
"I still find things to do and I
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me,"he said, laughing, but admit-
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meeting new friends and the travel
program has given them in retire-
ment an opportunity to visit new
places.
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i
essary to override.
Ballenger says he supports a
more fair and reasonable bipartisan
substitute. He said the language of
the bill would push employers into
setting statistical formulas for both
hiring and promotions as the only
way to protect themselves from
costly litigation. As a result, the
use of quotas would be necessary
"safe harbor" for employers.
+He predicted that U. S. troops
would be in Saudi Arabia for some
time and estimated the high costs
of keeping the military there at
x $400 million a day.
+Ballenger said he felt the feder-
al government should quit loaning
money to college students because
they are not paying the money
back. "We are losing a billion dol-
lars a year to student loan de-
faults," he said.
+Negotiations on the budget
have reached a stalemate. The
House has approved 10 appropria-
tions bills that increased spending
by over $41 billion over 1989 lev-
els. Seventeen amendments have
been added to reduce spending.
Had these amendment passed over
$18 billion in spending would have
been cut. In order words, govern-
ment spending would only have in-
creased by $23 billion rather than
$41 billion. Given an estimated
budget deficit of $168 billion for
fiscal year 1991, this is not a radi-
cal idea, he said.
+In an earlier meeting of the
Cleveland Chamber of Commerce
in Shelby, Ballenger said the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers will
complete feasibility study on a
proposed Upper Cleveland lake
project next month. The proposed
reservoir would be located north of
Polkville on the First Broad River.
He was optimistic about funding
for the project but he said the big
question remains the price tag of
such a reservoir.
Bobby Maner, President of the
Board of Realtors, introduced the
Congressman and also recognized
N, C. Representative John
Weatherly and KM Mayor Kyle
Smith as special guests.
During the business meeting,
Realtors voted to allow the execu-
tive committee to set the annual
dues of members without allowing
a vote of the membership. Realtor
Joe Smith cast the only dissenting
vote. Maner said the action was
necessary to include higher costs of
meals for lunchean meetings and to
comply with national guidelines.
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