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VOI. 108 NO. 29 Thursday, July 25, 1991 Kings Mountain, Ni Be Ye
SEE ™
They're off and runnin,
Childers for Mayor
Former city commissioner James A. (Jim) Childers
made it official this week that he is running for may-
or and paid his $60 filing fee to Elections Board
Chairman Becky Cook.
Childers, who served on city council from 1975-
.-83, has plieade) virtually all board meetings since
j leaving the office and
has maintained an inter-
est in city government.
"After the present utility
projects are completed
the city utilities will be
in good shape for the
foreseeable future and I
think it's time to move
on to improving other
needs of the city," he
said.
He is the only
candidate to file for the
top office since filing
opened Monday. Mayor
Kyle Smith, who is completing his first four-year
term, has said he will not seek reelection. Filing peri-
od ends August 9 at noon.
Except for five years when he served in the U. S.
Army during the Korean conflict, Childers has been a
life-long resident of Kings Mountain. President of
Childers Roofing, he and his wife, Pat, reside at 407
W. Gold Street and are the parents of five children
and have six grandchildren.
See Mayor, 2-A
"CHILDERS
King wants mayor's seat,
Rich board job in Grover
KM team to play
in State Tournament
Gamble in Ward One
Fortee Gamble, of 201 N. Cansler St., filed
Monday for the Ward I minority/majority seat on city
council.
"I've been working toward district representation
for several years and want to represent everyone in
the new Ward 1," said Gamble, who said his service
on the KM Zoning Board of
Adjustments, Cleveland County
Voters Registration Association
and his prior work in the 24th
Ward of Philadelphia, Pa. as a
committeeman brings experience
to the job.
Gamble, a Kings
Mountain native, is son of the
late Mr. and Mrs. Joe Gamble
and attended Davidson High
School and Keystone Electronic
GAMBLE Institute. He has worked as an in-
spector for the N. C. Department of Transportation
for 21 years, 13 of which have been in North
Carolina. In the 1950's he operated a restaurant in
San Francisco after his discharge from the U. S.
Navy after six years service. He served aboard the U.
S.S. Missouri during World War II and on the
Destroyer New Jersey in the Korean Conflict. He
was active in the Boy Scout organization in
Philadelphia and also worked there in the clerk of
court's office before joining the Department of
Transportation.
See Gamble, 2-A
Gregory in Ward Two Trio running At- =
Jeff Gregory, 33, of 214 Fairview St., filed
Monday for Ward 2 city councilman.
"I think I ran well for a first-timer in the last city
election and still want to serve. I like very much the
/ idea of voting in the
| wards," said Gregory, who
filed Monday as candidate
filing opened for the
October municipal elec-
tion.
"I have an overall
concern for all the people
of Kings Mountain," said
| Gregory, a city carrier
i with Gastonia Post Office
8 1/2 years. He is married
to Sonya McAbee
Gregory and they have
a two children, Stephanie
GREGORY and Jeffrey Michael, and
are active in Second Baptist Church.
A 1976 graduate of Kings Mountain High School,
Gregory served in the U. S. Air Force from 1978-82
discharged with the rank of Sergeant. He formerly
worked for Piedmont Airlines. A Kings Mountain na-
tive, he is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Gregory.
Only registered voters living in Ward 2 will elect
the Ward 2 commissioner at the polls October 8.
Filing deadline is August 9 at noon with Elections
Board Chairman Becky Cook. Filing fee is $36.
KING MORETZ
BENNETT
A race developed for the two at-large seats on
Kings Mountain city council Tuesday when a third
candidate announced.
Incumbent city councilman Al Moretz filed
Monday, former commissioner Luther Bennett filed
early Tuesday and former policeman Joe King made
it a three-way race when he filed late Tuesday.
Bennett was chairman of the KM Elections Board
12 years and was a city commissioner representing
Ward 3 from 1957-61.
Moretz, former city engineer, is completing his
first four-year term as District I councilman.
King needed 35 votes to beat the incumbent Ward
4 commissioner in a run-off four years ago.
Filing deadline is August 9. Voters will elect a
mayor and two commissioners at large, the top vote-
getter to a four-year term and the other commissioner
See At-large, 2-A
W. Norman King resigned
Wednesday from the Grover town
board and threw his hat in the ring
for mayor. Former commissioner
Donald Lee Rich Sr. filed Tuesday
for one of the two seats open on
the board.
Former 22-year District 4 city
commissioner in Kings Mountain,
King has served nearly two years
of his first four-year term as
Grover councilman. He and his
wife, Ruth Ware King, moved to
Grover nearly three years ago and
reside in Spring Acres.
RICH
Citizens protest mine on Highway 29
A proposed mine on Highway
29 near Grover drew opposition by
two nearby manufacturers and a
resident from Kilgore Community
at a public meeting conducted by
the North Carolina Division of
Land Resources on Rednour
Mining Corporation's application
for a mining permit Tuesday night
before a packed house at Kings
Mountain city hall.
Cleveland County Economic
Development Commission also op-
King's entry into ihe asyor S
race brings to three the number of
candidates. Four-term Mayor Bill
McCarter and Mayor Pro Tem
Miller seeks
school seat
W. Mountain St., filed Tuesday for
one of the two inside.city seats up
for grabs this fall on the Kings
A
RArs. Shearra Mille: - 23) of 403 ,
Ronald Queen announced this
week. Terms of both McCarter and
Commissioner King are up in
December. Incumbent Sandra S.
Ellis filed for reelection last week.
King retired 10 years ago after
33 years with Southern Bell
Telephone Company with service
in engineering and public relations.
He and his wife are active in
Grover First Baptist Church. He is
a member of Grover Masonic
Lodge and past president of
Grover Lions Club. The Kings
have four children: Norma Pettus
of Kings Mountain, Jack Pettus of
Charlotte and Bruce King and
Joyce Ann Allen, both of Grover;
and five grandchildren.
"I believe that Grover is in a
unique position for increased
See Grover, 2-A
poses the application made by
Twin Mountain Mine of Kings
Mountain, siding with both Eaton
Corporation and high tech Phillips
& Du Pont about strong concerns
about vibration and dust from the
adjacent 9-acre Rednour mine,
owned by Larry Rednour, who has
option to buy 300 additional acres
near the site he wants to mine
"high quality" mica east of Grover
on Highway 216 between Highway
29 and I-85 at Exit 2.
Budget back on agenda
for city board meeting
The city budget for 1991-92 is
the major item on the agenda for
Tuesday night's city council meet-
ing.
City Manager George Wood said
he will present the $17,392,639
budget which includes merit raises
but no cost-of-living raises for the
160-plus city employees, higher
water and sewer rates and new
garbage collection fees.
The proposed budget reflects a
1.1 percent increase over last ycar
and a decrease in property tax rate-
-due to Cleveland County's proper-
ty revaluation this year--from 37 to
36 cents per $100.
In addition, Kings Mountain res-
idents started paying $1.40 per
month or $16.80 annually in sani-
tation and garbage fees effective
June 30 and will soon be paying an
increase of 12 percent in water and
sewer rates with the average resi-
dential customer finding an in-
crease of $1.47 on his utility bill
effective July 31.
Faced with the state budget
crunch, the council had adopted a
tentative working budget to tide
them over until the General
Assembly finished with the state
budget.
Wood said the city won't be re-
ceiving less money than expected
from the state and the budget is un-
changed from the budget he pre-
sented last month at a public hcar-
ing at which only onc private
citizen, Jim Childers, spoke up.
PROPOSED MINE- B. K. Barringer, engineer for Rednour Mining Corporation of Kings Mountain,
shows a map of a proposed Grover Road site for a mica mine. Adjoining industries and Kilgore communi-
ty residents are opposing the permit application which the state will decide on in 60 days.
"We can only tolerate about four
ten-thousanths of an inch of vibra-
tion coming through the ground
and this mine will be next door to
us," said Jim Gilcrist, engineering
manager with Philips & DuPont,
which makes four million compact
discs per month. Streams of infor-
mation are packed so tightly to-
gether that the slightest movement
will cause skipping and the product
won't sell, he said. Gilchrist and
Plant Manager Jim Crawley also
are concerned, they said, about
dust in the air. "We do quite a job
of filtering our air at the plant here
and one of the reasons we came to
the Kings Mountain area was to in-
sure we would have clean air," said
Crawley.
- Jim Rennirt, Plant Manager of
Eaton Corporation, said vibration
will directly affect Eaton's ability
to produce heavy-duty transmis-
sions and air contaminants and
equipment at the proposed mine
Kings Mountain People
will directly affect high tech preci-
sion equipment. Rennirt said Eaton
has invested $160 million in its
290,000 square feet facility and
plans to expand 50% above the
current production levels and now
employs 470 people. He said Eaton
would be secured on three sides by
the proposed mine.
"We are very much against the
digging of another mine in the
place we live," said Rev. Kenneth
See Mine, 2-A
Mountain Board
is the wife of
Tim Miller, co-
manager of
Bridges
Hardware, and
mother of two
daughters,
Rebekah, 6, a
first grader at
West School,
and Kathlene, 3. The family is ac-
tive in First Baptist Church. Mrs.
Miller writes a weekly cooking
column for The Kings Mountain
Herald.
"Children, not just our daughters
but all children, are my reason for
filing for the school board," said
Miller. "I feel we should not have
to settle for mediocrity in public
education. Possibility of high qual-
ity education is there and we just
have to work for it," she said.
"I have no axes to grind," said
Miller, who is seeking public office
for the first time.
A graduate of Meredith College,
Miller says her occupation is full-
time homemaker. She says she
wants to give input into decision-
making from a parent's point of
view. "I know the board can't ac-
complish everything that needs to
be done in Kings Mountain District
“MILLER
See Miller, 2-A
THEODORE BYERS
Every Saturday Theodore Byers,
67, volunteers at Kings Mountain
Convalescent Center.
He started visiting patients when
his mother became ill in 1966 and
dicd there in 1980 and hasn't
stopped.
"I just like to help out with the
guys," said Byers, who shaves the
male patients and often shampoos
and cuts their hair. "It really docs
me more good than it docs the pa-
tients. I love it,"
Byers retired two years ago after
20) ycars as a shear operator at
Ryerson Steel in Charlotte.
A widower, Byers says the re-
tircment years have been busy but
cnjoyable. He cooks, cuts grass,
and is enjoying the company this
summer of his 11-year-old grand-
daughter, Latoya, of New Jersey.
The father of five children, Byers
has 10 grandchildren who range in
age from 4 to 21. His children arc
Beverly Byers of Kings Mountain,
Michael Byers of Charlotte, and
Bradley, Timothy and Theodore
Byers, all of New Jersey.
Both Bycrs' mother, Ola Byers,
and his sister, Surdelle Hunter,
were patients at Kings Mountain
Convalescent Center before their
death. "That's a good place and the
nursing staff takes good care of the
residents," said Byers who visited
almost daily when his mother and
sister were residents. He claims
Byers just likes to help out
many good friends over the years.
A 1942 graduate of Davidson
High School, Byers is son of the
late Mr. and Mrs. Robert Byers. He
graduated from high school in June
1942 and reported for duty with
Uncle Sam in July and served three
years and four months with the
Army Corps of Engineers during
World War II in the European
Theater of Operations. He returned
home and went to work at
Burlington Mills Phenix Plant and
then moved to New Jersey where
he was a metalogist for N. J. Steel
Scrvice for 15 years. He moved
back to Kings Mountain in 1969
due 10 poor health of his parents.
See Byers, 2-A
EC mSmai wo RE