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GED SHRINERS BAR-B-QUE To Be Held This Saturday | eVacant Lot Beside American Legions Your Hometown Newspaper eSince 1889e VOL. 103 NO. 15 It's likely that one or more of the three incumbents for city council will lose their seats in the next city election because of redistricting which will see the creation of a minority ward where the candidate is assured one of the three seats up for grabs this election year. The new redistricting plan is expected to come before city council April 29. A second public hearing on redistricting is on the agenda for the April 29 meeting. City council was to get recommendations from the redistricting committee at a meeting underway Wednesday as The Herald went to press. Elections Board Chairman Becky Cook said it's likely voters could choose an at- large candidate from among the three incumbent councilmen. None of the six present commissioners reside in the minority ward. Depending on where council decides the lines will be drawn, the three ik = School Board Attends Convention............... 4=A KM Merchants Expect Sales To Be Up......13-A | ost $8.7 Cor = EE Veal | i % Me} 52 & | No Bn Pres REE 2 i) . & _ Thursday, April 18, 1991 Kings Mountain, N.C = incumbents may not be living in the wards presently known as 1, 3, and 4, each of which comes up for election this fall. Terms of District 1 Commissioner Al Moretz, District 3 Commissioner Norma Bridges and District 4 Commissioner Jackie Barrett are expiring this fall. Cook led a public hearing on the federally-required redistricting last Thursday at city hall but only six people were present besides the 11 members of the redistricting committee, including Mayor Kyle Smith, the six city council members, the three elections board members and two members appointed from the community at- large. : Only Will Sanders spoke during the 30- minute hearing. He said he favored voting for candidates by ward, as the new plan suggests. "If you vote at large, however, you could have two commissioners in the same district," he said. He liked the idea of six councilmen elected by wards and the mayor elected at-large. "It's going to be a big transition for voters but we want to try to come up with a plan and get it approved and move forward with the municipal elections this fall," Cook said. City council has the final vote on the plan and must also submit the final resolution and paperwork to the U. S. Justice Denartment in Washington, D. C. for approval by July 5 in order for the fall elections to proceed on schedule. City Manager George Wood said the redistricting plan envisions électing an at- large candidate at each election so that anyone can register and run for a seat on the board. Cook and M. L. Campbell, prominent black leader in the community, said they favored a city council composed of the mayor, four ward commissioners elected from the members of their wards, and two Minority ward will be assured se ___ commissioners who would run at large. A voter would have the chance to pick four of seven who sit on council. If a new ward map is approved by Kings Mountain City Council and the U. S. Justice Department, 2,191 residents will be put in each of four wards or the average size of a five ward council would be 1,753 and the average size of a six ward council would be 1,461. Cook says that the majority of the redistricting committee is leaning toward four wards. "If we go below four or above six it will throw the percentages out of whack again," she said. The new ward map, which was being finalized this week, is based on results from the 1990 U. S. Census. Prior to boundary changes, the population differed greatly in some of the districts. Federal law allows populations to differ by as much as 5 foe A ¥ - percent among voting districts. Never before has a black won election to city council. Voting by wards will assure minority representation, says Cook, but if at-large candidates don't run it's possible Kings Mountain's track record for turnout at the polls could be lost. "For instance, If my ward isn't coming up this year I might decide not to go to the polls and vote for the mayor," she said. "It's the same expense for the taxpayers if two or 500 show up at the polls." "We don't need to play politics,” said Cook, who went over the several options board members have been looking at. She said the minority district can be formed by picking up minorities living in part of Ward 5, Ward 6 and the Northwoods and Pine Manor areas. / For Ethel Lee and Ervin Conner 66 years of marriage seems like yesterday. The well-known. . Kings Mountain couple celebrate their anniversary Thursday just as they ‘do every day--by being kind and good to one another. It's a practice ! worth keeping, they say, and their successful marriage is because they are able to give and take and to put a mixture of humor and faith into their everyday lives. Conner, who will be 83 on May 31, started building utility trailers in a shop in his back yard when, af- ter 40 years as a mechanic, he sold his garage and retired about 10 years ago. He still keeps up his vintage 1975 Cadillac and sings with a gospel quartet as the proud senior member of the all-male group. Ethel Cabe Conner, 84, joins her husband for regular trips to Bryson City to visit her sister, Sarah Breedlove, 87, and attends church with him when she. is able at Zion Baptist Church in Gastonia. She is a devoted fan of Faith Gospel Singers who practice every week in Cloninger Street. Conner teases the group that they are the "Medicare quartet" but, according to Mrs. Conner, he's a popular lead singer for the quartet which sings old- timey Southern gospel. Ervin has been singing for many years. their ‘comfortable home on: Conners have been together 66 years Ervin teases his wife that he cut the Bryson City native loose from an apple wagon back in 1924 when he courted her in his father's T- model and they later bought their first car, a 1920 Star, a black two- seater, from Durant Motor Company. Ethel and Ervin Conner were married April 18, 1925 at York, S.C. He was married two months before his 17th birthday and Ethel was a young 18. Their family includes four chil- dren, including the late Clyde E. Conner, Johnny Ray Conner and Betty Payne, all of Kings Mountain, and Garnell Bryant of Bessemer City; 16 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter. Ervin started puttering on the family car when he was a boy and never quit, he said. He worked for Plonk Motor Company for a num- ber of years before opening up his own garage in several locations in the city over the years and fixed hundreds of cars. Both he and his wife are also veteran employees of textile mills in Kings Mountain--at the Park Yarn and Margrace plants. Mrs. Conner retired after 25 years as a winder at Margrace Mill. Conner, born in a family of nine children of the late John Oscar and Bessie Bumgardner Conner, grew up on a farm in the Oak Grove- Bethlehem communities. The fami- ly lived for several years in Cramerton and it was in Cramerton he met his wife who had moved there from Swain County with rela- tives.Ethel grew up in a family of five children. Her sister, Ruth Baity lives in Kings Mountain. During his retirement years Conner also stays busy with weld- ing in his trailer shop in his back- yard and Mrs. Conner enjoys a doll collection. When the children and grandchildren go on vacation ETHEL AND ERVIN CONNER trips they bring her various dolls and her collection is growing. She asked her husband to build her a big doll cradle to hold her dolls as an anniversary present. A coffee club which meets at Waffle House is also a hobby that Conner relishes. Every morning he drives his old Cadillac to the Waffle House for coffee with See Conners, Page 5-A Subscribe to Herald, and help needy in KM Subscribe to The Kings Mountain Herald and ben- efit the Kings Mountain Crisis Ministry. This is what telemarketing people Development South will be telling Kings Mountain area people for the next three to four weeks in the first circulation drive sponsored by The Herald in a number of years. All locally employed people will conduct the tele- phone campaign and will be calling residents Mondays through Fridays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. daily and from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturdays. A year's subscription is $14.50 in-county and $15.55 out-of-county. Circulation South has offices at The Herald but will be obtaining the subscriptions via telephone. Angie Wisham of Albany, Ga. is sales manager for the promotion. Circulation South is headquartered in Thomasville, Ga. and conducts newspaper circula- tion promotions throughout the Southeast working predominately with community newspapers. "I love to work with hometown papers like The Herald because this is a close-knit community and I can see the newspaper is an important part of their lives," said Wisham. "The Herald is 102 years old and is unique because it features all local news about the community,” she said. "We are delighted to offer subscriptions to helpthe [2 Crisis Ministry Center in Kings Mountain," said Publisher Darrell Austin. "All of us are aware of the services the Crisis Ministry provides to the area needy." from Circulation Society. ‘Celebrity’ Scott Neisler, left, in dress and wig, George Wood, seated, and Bill Grissom ham it up at Tuesday night dinner for benefit of the Leukemia The fourth annual Kings Mountain Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame banquet will be Monday at 7 p.m. at the Kings Mountain Community Center. Terry Holland, athletic director at Davidson College, will be the guest speaker. Tickets are $10 each and are availabis at the Kings Mountain Chamber of Commerce, the Kings Mountain Herald, McGinnis Department Store and Champion Contracting. Tickets will also be sold at the door. Four men will be inducted. They include the late John Gamble, Toby Williams, Jim Kimmell and Ken Baity. In addition, the Kings Mountain High golf team, which won the state championship last year, will receive the Special Achievement Award. Ronnie Wilson, assistant super- intendent of schools, will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Mayor Kyle Smith will give the welcome and members of the Hall of Fame com- mittee will also take part in the program. Several special guests will be in attendance, including former KMHS coaches Bill Bates and Don Parker, previous Hall of Fame in- ductees, and many others. Kings Mountain's first profes- sional football player, Pride Ratteree, will be on hand to help honor his brother-in-law, Toby Williams, who played football, Hall of Fame Monday night baseball and basketball at KMHS in the late 20's and early 30's, and who was also P.A. announcer for Mountaineer football games for 36 years. Williams will be inducted by his long-time "sidekick", Bob Smith. Ratteree played his high school football in Kings Mountain and lat- er was an All-State tackle at Wake Forest. He played professionally with the Chicago Cardinals and lat- er spent several years in the college and pro coaching ranks. He is now retired and living in Columbia, SC. Coach Bates, who now lives in Hendersonville, will return to in- duct John Gamble and Ken Baity. Bates was Gamble's assistant in the fifties and took over as head coach in 1962 after Coach Gamble had to retire because of health reasons. Bates continued to coach through the 1971 season and then became assistant superintendent of schools. Bates was Baity's backfield coach in 1957 when Baity was named to: the Shrine Bowl team. Coach Parker, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year, will induct Jim Kimmell, who was a three-sport star for the Mountaineers from 1949-53. Other Hall of Famers expected to attend are Pat Murphy, former KMHS football star who was a Little All-American quarterback at Appalachian State University; and baseball star Charlie Ballard and See Hall of Fame, 5-A ‘Celebrity’ waiters raise $ for leukemia The tips were outstanding for celebrity waiters at a. fundraiser for the N. C. Leukemia Association which raised $3,385.51 Tuesday night. Co-chairmen of the benefit at the Country Club were Mayor Kyle Smith and Councilman Scott Neisler. Neisler was a big hit with the 60 people who had dinner and en- joyed entertainment by the waiters all dressed up in various attire. Neisler was dressed in a red dress with heels and called himself "Samantha." Other popular waiters were Billy King, Carolyn Schwartz, Ronnie Whetstine, Gary Whitaker, Joe Smith and John Mitchell. King was dressed in a Southern Bell lineman's outfit, Mitchell was Don Hoe in Hawaiian attire, Whitaker was a "beach boy", Whetstine was dressed in cowboy attire, Smith's colorful jacket and pants was topped off with a bow tie and Schwartz wore a pantsuit. In addition to donations by guests in the form of "tips" and table reservations, the group also auctioned colorful balloons and made a charge for most everything, all in fun and for benefit of leukemia patients. Among table sponsors were Clevemont Mills, W&W Construction, Sandra Wilson Realty, First Carolina Federal Savings Bank, Eaton Corporation, Southern Bell, and Combustion Engineering. "We're even going to charge the photographer for making our pic- tures," said Neisler. Kathy Butler bought two second row seat tickets to the Hornets- Chicago Bulls game for $250 and Hornets sweatshirts were two for $20. The big prize was a trip for two to Savannah, Ga. Woman's shooting death stuns community The shooting death Sunday morning of a young Dixon Community mother of three chil- dren and the charge of murder filed against her husband was a shock to her neighbors on Huffman Road who regarded them as "nice people and good neighbors." Cherokee County, S.C. sheriff's deputies arrested Steven Arthur Jensen, 41, of 525 Huffman Road, and charged him with murder in the death of his wife. Detective Ken Broome is continuing the in- vestigation. Julie Anne Giesking Jensen, 35, died April 14, 1991 at 8:05 a.m. of gunshot wounds to the throat. Sheriff's deputies said she was shot with a .357 pistol. Mr. Jensen is in jail at Cherokee County Jail pending a bond hcar- ing. Authorities with the South Carolina Department of Social Services took custody of the cou- ple's three children: John, 5, Hannah Mac Jensen, 7, and Josh Jensen,9, all of whom attend Blacksburg, S.C. Primary and Elementary Schools. The couple had lived on Huffman Road just over the South Carolina state line in Blacksburg, S.C. seven years, Mrs. Jensen was a member of Antioch Baptist Church and the family had attend- ed Love Valley Baptist Church in ‘the area. Mrs. Jensen was cm- ployed by Plantation Pipeline. Neighbors of the Jensens regard- ed her as a devoted mother, a "nice and quiet person and Jensen as a "good father who enjoyed teaching See Death, 2-A
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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April 18, 1991, edition 1
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