The '93 Bride
See Special Insert Inside Today's Herald
Fire guts Comfort Inn.......See Phofc zs
United Fund goal in sight.... ::
AYVEEIT TVIYOWIR AANAVR
VOL. 105 NO. 4
Arson not ruled out
Thursday, January 28, 1993
Kings Mountain, N.C. 28086 «35¢
Kings Mountain police, the SBI, an arson task
force, Kings Mountain Fire Department and
Cleveland County Fire Marshal Beau Lovelace are
continuing to investigate a fire at Comfort Inn
Saturday where damages may run as high as a half
million dollars.
"Arson has not been ruled out," said Fire Chief
Frank Burns, who said evidence and witnesses’ state-
ments point to Room 212 as the place where the fire
originated.
Burns said the room was occupied by Millicent
Bell of Detroit, Michigan, formerly of Shelby, who
County
was reportedly staying in Kings Mountain to attend
her mother's funeral in Shelby.
The woman was transported by police from the
fire scene to Cleveland County Law Enforcement
Center where ‘a magistrate processed emergency
commitment papers and she was admitted to
Broughton Hospital in Morganton.
Police say the woman can't be interviewed by au-
thorities for another week to 10 days.
Police are looking for the woman's male compan-
ion for questioning in the incident.
Shortly after the fire broke out about 5 p.m, wit-
nesses reported seeing a black woman standing
naked on the second floor balcony of the motel and
acting in an agitated manner. "The woman appeared
upset and distraught and verbally abused police," ac-
cording to the police report. "She kept shouting that
her husband was in the room."
Cleveland County Fire Marshal Beau Lovelace
said that someone set a pile of clothing ablaze in
Room 212. He said no charges have been filed.
"All we're saying now is that it is a suspicious
fire," said Chief Burns, who met with KMPD Det. Lt.
Richard Reynolds, Lovelace, KMPD Chief Warren
Goforth, and other investigators Saturday, Sunday
and Monday to probe the fire.
Police and firemen responding to a 911 call from
the Burger King found flames coming through the
roof of the 73 room motel. " The desk clerk and man-
ager were knocking on doors and yelling for people
to get out," said Burns, who said that 18 rooms were
destroyed in addition to the attic area of the second
floor and 30 or more rooms on the two story building
were smoke and water damaged.
"Most of the guests were construction workers and
See Investigation, 10-A
Long-term camping
+ Glenn Anderson
to finance
‘water line
An agreement with Cleveland
County to finance looping of a 12-
inch water line to the new Kings
Mountain Business Park at I-85
and 161 was approved by City
Council Tuesday night.
The $78, 539.90 price tag could
be a loan unless new businesses
and industries repay the loan first
through property taxes.
Under the agreement, if enough
new businesses open at the site in
the next five years, the city will on-
ly repay the portion of the loan the
county can not regain through
property taxes.
Kings Mountain and Gaston
County agreed last year to work to-
gether to build water and sewer
lines to serve the new Firestone
plant going up in'Kings Mountain
Business Park.
In related actions, the board
adopted an ordinance amending the
capital projects fund for water and
sewer improvements to the Kings
Mountain Business Park. The total
cost will include $1,171,487.00, in-
cluding a $1,092,947.00 grant from
Gaston County and a $78,540.00
grant from Cleveland County.
Engineering and inspection costs
are expected to run $147,850.00;
water line construction
$268,970.00 and sewer line con-
struction $754,667.00.
The board approved change or-
ders to the contract with McClam
& Associates of Little Mountain,
SC to include the Cleveland
County water line and the 18-inch
sewer line.
The board also amended
Bridgestone/Firestone's wastewater
discharge allocation from 20,000
gallons per day of sewer to 40,000
gallons per day of sewer. City
Manager George Wood said the
new allocation represents 1/5 of the
plant's water allocation.
The Firestone plant is scheduled
to open in May, replacing the com-
pany's Gastonia plant.
Officials are working to encour-
See City, 3-A
Wade lyner,
Wade Tyner, president of Wade
Ford, was installed as president of
the Kings Mountain Chamber of
Commerce at the annual Monday
night banquet which attracted more
.. than 150 people to the Kings
Mountain Middle School Cafeteria.
Outgoing “President Ruby
Alexander presented the gavel to
Tyner, who praised her and the
board of directors for promoting
Kings Mountain as "the place to
live and work." He said he wel-
comes ideas from the business
community he called the strength
of the Chamber.
Tyner presented Alexander with
an appreciation plaque and recog-
nized other new officers, including
and Hugh
Lancaster, vice-presidents; and di-
rectors Butch Kerns, Glee Bridges,
David Faunce, Larry Hamrick Jr.,
Dr. David McDaniel, Mike
The black smoke from the high dollar fire at Kings
Mountain's Comfort Inn Saturday could be seen for
miles. >
"When I pulled out of my driveway and saw that
smoke I-knew we were in trouble,” said Kings
Mountain Fire Chief Frank Burns.
Department, Oak Grove Fire Department, and
Bethlehem Fire Department battled the blaze for 30
minutes before controlling it. The 73-room Comfort
Inn at York Road and I- 85 has been closed since the
fire.
Twenty-two of the or members of the Kings
‘Mountain Fire Department, 11 officers with the
Kings Mountain Police Department, Cleveland
County Fire marshals Beau Lovelace and Dewey
Cook and the Cleveland County Chapter of the
American Red Cross responded to the 911 call about
~5 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
"Luckily, no one was hurt and we had such good
assistance from volunteers and our experienced fire
departments,” said Burns, who also called the SBI in-
to the investigation into the cause of the fire.
Burns said that when firemen arrived on the scene
the fire was showing through the roof of the second
Fifty firefighters with Kings Mountain Fire
Cleveland County Fire Marshal ‘Beau Lovelace ‘and 4 member of the arson strike team sift through the
debris from Saturday's fire at Comfort Inn. Their investigation is continuing into the cause of the fi ire.
Damages may run as high as a half million dollars. More photographs by the Kings Mountain Fire
Department appear in Section B.
Black smoke from fire
could be seen for miles
floor and about six units had burned. Fire shen
quickly through the attic, he said, and damaged 15
rooms on the second floor. Water damaged another
15 rooms on the second floor and damaged the first )
floor. ;
One Kings Mountain fireman saw ‘the smoke from
as far away as Independence Boulevard in Charlotte
and said,"somebody's got a big fire."
Kings Mountain police said that the first 911 call
came in about 5 p.m. and after that at least 11 calls
came in from people seeing the black smoke and
wanting to know what was wrong.
Police responding to the blazé were Sgt. Phil
Witherspoon, Ptl. Maurice Jamerson, Ptl. Jerry
Tessneer, Chief Warren Goforth, Det. Lt. Richard
Reynolds, Sgt. Mark Simpson, Captain Bob Hayes,
Ptl. Don Martin, Ptl. Chris Owens, Ptl. Billy Fredell
and Sgt. Derek Johnson. Dispatcher Theresa Long
was called in to relieve Jamerson and she said she an-
swered calls about the fire for more than two hours
after police and firemen were on the scene.
Police said that the Red Cross brought food to the
scene and that city workers from the water, sewer
and electrical departments were called out when a
proposal tabled
Kings Mountain City Council
Tuesday night tabled a proposal by
Moss Lake Commission to stop
long-term camping at Moss Lake.
Apparently divided on the issue
of what constitutes permanent
camping, the board appointed
Councilmen Phil Hager and Jerry
White their representatives to work
with the lake commission and
come up with a compromise solu-
tion.
"I'can't see throwing them out,"
said White.
Fifteen campers were present for
the meeting and met after the meet-
ng with White! |
Keith Lail, a camper at the lake
for three years, presented the
group's objections to the board
changing the rules. He currently
leases a camp site a year at a time
but says he only camps 5-7 nights a -
month. He denied that campers are
permanent residents.
At-Large Councilman Al Moretz
said that Council should back the
lake commission which had stud-
ied the matter for months and is
ready to abolish permanent camp-
ing when the $500 annual leases
run out April 1. "These folks are
getting water and lights for $42 a
month and a permanent camp/va-
cation site year round,” said
Moretz. j
Moretz said that with 15 of the
sites now permanently occupied
that other people don't have a
chance to rent a campsite for $10 a
night or $13 a night if they want
{ishing/swimining pertaits,
Councilman Fred Finger sug-
gested more camp sites would al-
leviate the problem but City
Manager George Wood said adding
city expense would provide what
he and city staffers see as perma-
nent campsites for 15 families.
See Camping, 3-A
Rec. Department
to use school fields
City recreation requests topped
the agenda for Tuesday night's City
Council meeting and the board ap-
proved all.
Upon recommendation of the
Parks & Recreation Committee, the
board appointed John Blalock,
Ward I, and Charles Smith, Ward
II, to fill unexpired terms of board
members Danny McDowell and Bo
Goforth and asked council to fill
the At-large position held by
Chuck Gordon who has moved
from Kings Mountain
Councilman Phil ‘Hager recom-
mended that Hubert Toney be ap-
pointed and the board concurred
In related actions, the board
Authorized the use of five ele-
mentary fields, two at East, two at
North and one at Central, for prac-
tice fields. None of the fields are
lighted and will be used and super-
vised by the city only during day-
light hours. The city will spend ap-
proximately $475 at each site to
relocate back stops. Recreation
Director David Hancock said that
school officials are pleased with
the arrangement.
Approved the use of City
Stadium for the softball season.
Portable fencing will be installed
for safety reasons at cost of $1200.
Commissioner Jim Guyton asked
Hancock to write a letter to
Macedonia Baptist Church thank-
ing the church for use of their
fields.
Accepted an anonymous dona-
tion for grass for the inficld at the
Deal Street Field 3 and approved
the site for the Dixie Youth Minor
League State tournament and au-
thorized the installation of a sprin-
kler system behind the mound and
irrigation of 2,500 square feet of
new sodded areas. The installation
by city crews would cost less than
$500, including the sprinkler head.
Sodding will be by volunteer labor.
See Recreation, 3-A
new Chamber of Commerce president
Huffman, Ronnie Whetstine, John
Mitchell, Tim Miller, Ronnie
Wilson and Ed Campbell.
Glee E. Bridges, who became
chairman of the newly-formed edu-
cation committee last October,
praised the cooperation between
the schools and the Chamber and
said the banquet showcased the
good things going on in the system.
Table decorations were provided
by the 52 Discovery classes and
the place mats were the creative .
work of the art classes.
Gene Causby,. Executive
Director of the North Carolina
School Boards Association, was
the keynote speaker and was laud-
ed by Supt.. Dr. Bob McRae as an
cducator who "does a terrific job
for your kids."
Causby, well known as an afler
dinner speaker for his sense of hu-
mor and keen insight to public
school issues, said the Chamber of
Commerce is a major player in
public education.
He used the topic, "Kids and
Schools Are Better Than You
Think They Are," in a humorous
address in which he cited statistics
to prove his point.
National studies during the past
year, he said, have put public edu-
cation in the headlines with no im-
portant, new information.
Causby called the past school
year "the year of studies.”
"We've got lots of negative at-
tention from the media regarding
one of the biggest news days as the
release of the local school report
card," he said.
Serious concerns about the econ-
omy have impacted education, he
said, because the huge consensus is
that the country's cconomic future
is ticd to the quality of the educa-
tional system. "We're now a pock-
etbook issue."
"While we have preached
uniqueness we have practiced
sameness,” said Causby. "Is 180
days of school exactly right for ev-
ery child and a 55 minute school
period exactly right for each stu-
dent? What's the magic deal about
October 15? Can we set a date for
a kid's ability to go to school?"
Causby said schools are getting
the blame for the country's $50
million a day drug habit and for the
national debt. "Get real,” he said,
citing dramatic achievements of
kids in the past 50 ycars.
Causby said that in 1940 61.9
percent of 25-year-olds in America
had not graduated from high
school. In 1990 the figurc was 14.1
percent. In 1950 only 14 percent
of minority students graduated
See Chamber, 3-A
Outgoing Chamber of Commerce president Ruby Alexander pre-
sents the gavel to the new president Wade Tyner. More than 150
people attended the annual banquet Monday night.