Rl =e
Mountaineers
eye big vear
in baseball
VOL. 105 NO. 9
DT Toma ad aa nes oA ni ais
Ree
5 Rll Rio lr 0% k “ % |
1
i; Wnty —" o Q
FAL YY a 2% %
IZA I - or
£2 lr —r . Z =.
= —— 2
27
AI Iba 1 Bae —
an S & on =
he | >
Z
Your Hometown Newspaper Since 1889
Thursday, March 4, 1993
35¢
Kings Mountain, |
Grover Town Board adjourned abruptly Monday
night after a citizen questioned procedures and before
it could readdress a controversial decision discussed
last month behind closed doors.
Ann McCarter, daughter of longtime and former
mayor Bill McCarter, said she had no problem with
the recent water rate increase but with its legality and
timing,
She said the board discussed the matter in a closed
session which violated the Open Meetings Law and
that the attorney, who was present at that meeting and
at Monday night's regular meeting, concurred with
the action. She said the town could be sued if the
board did not redo its action.
Queen said rescinding the rate would cost the town
$7,000 which it doesn't have to spend because of
costly repair projects underway.
Bill Lail questioned how an attorney is selected.
Mayor Ronald Queen said his selection is made by
the board.
Grover buys 2.5 million gallons of water a month
from Kings Mountain which raised its rates 12 cents
per 1,000 gallons in November. Queen said the
January meeting included a work session to discuss
those rates. The board went into executive sessions
for two hours to discuss the water rates, the budget,
and a legal matter. The Open Meeting Law specifies
that boards can discuss personnel and acquisition of
property, but not water rates and budgets, in closed
meeting.
The 45-50 citizens in the audience applauded after
aman in the crowd said that McCarter was taking up
too much time on the agenda.
After a lengthy discussion by the mayor,
Councilman Tim Rowland and McCarter about who
had been rude to whom, Queen said, "I guess I have
sinned. Now I'm trying to get forgiveness."
Rowland reminded citizens that the mayor and
council also are paying the higher rates and that they
didn't like to see them go up any more than Queen.
"We'll try to do better," said Rowland, before he
made the motion to adjourn the meeting before an-
swering McCarter's requests.
Specifically, McCarter charged that citizens of
Grover, and particularly herself, don't have the right
to speak at public meetings. She said the board gives
citizens three minutes to speak after their names are
put on an agenda. McCarter's name was on the agen-
da to discuss "procedures."
"It's unheard of in a town this size to not allow a
citizen a voice in government and a direct violation
of my First Amendment rights," she said. "Rescind
your policy, please."
McCarter said that Monday's remarks by other citi-
zens speaking out of turn was typical but she was
called down when she addressed the chair,
McCarter asked that copies of the minutes be made
available to every citizen. Councilwoman Sandra
Ellis said that minutes can not be as detailed as
McCarter wants. Queen said that minutes are avail-
able at a fee to citizens. McCarter asked that minutes
be read at board meetings, a project that was discon-
tinued, said Queen, during the last administration.
"For months there were few citizens here and we
felt like it wasn't necessary to read the minutes since
the board had copies. Maybe we should return to that
policy now that we have large crowds which I'm glad
to see," said Queen.
McCarter was joined by Bill Lail, Jack Pollock
and other citizens in asking that business of the meet-
ing be conducted at the beginning of the meeting
McKenney purchases
Baucom Chevrolet-Geo
Ray McKenney, owner of five -
automobile dealerships, announces
the purchase of Baucom Chevrolet
in Kings Mountain and the reloca-
tion of the Ray McKenney
Chevrolet GEO dealership in
Cherryville to the Kings Mountain
site off I-85 and Highway 161.
McKenney, in his announce-
ment, said that General Motors re-
cently conducted a study of all
their dealerships in the United
States.
"On the dealerships that were lo-
cated in the smaller market area,
we were informed that demograph-
ics have changed over the years,
and they recommended seeking
A petition drive to get the sale of
beer and wine on the ballot in
Grover ended this week with pre-
sentation of the petition with 150
names to the Cleveland County
Board of Elections.
Juanita Pruette, former council-
woman who headed up the drive,
presented the petition Tuesday. She
said once the county board verifies
the signatures as registered voters
School Board considering budg
A 'want list' of school building
needs by Kings Mountain District
Schools to the state has a price tag
of $10 million. In addition,
Cleveland County Board of
Commissioners will receive soon a
capital outlay request for $246,000.
Supt. Dr. Bob McRae will pre-
sent the local budget request to
commissioners in April after the
Kings Mountain Board of
Education conducts a hearing on
the budget at the regular April
larger locations in order to be suc-
cessful in light of the high cost of
operating a full service dealership,"
McKenney said.
"With that in mind, it makes
sense for us to combine these two
locations and move to the larger lo-
cation in Kings Mountain.
Chevrolet put this deal together be-
cause they were very satisfied with
the job we had done in the sales
and service area in Cherryville."
Baucom Chevrolet was formerly
owned by Homer Baucom. The re-
maining employees there will team
with those of the former
Cherryville dealership.
See McKenney, 12-A
of Grover that the elections board
can call the election.
"We don't have to take the mat-
ter to Town Council," said Pruette.
She said that 35 percent of the reg-
istered voters or 121 signatures
were required.
The petition asked registered
voters to support a vote on the sale
of beer and wine at grocery and
convenience stores. The petition
meeting.
Board chairman Ronnie
Hawkins said the cost of new roofs
and paving will be about $700,000.
He said county commissioners cut
sales tax distribution allocations to
Kings Mountain from $500,000 to
$250,000 and the lack of funds
have hurt the system.
"We can justify the $10 million
price tag," said Hawkins, who said
the money would cover everything
from cost of desks to roofs.
Revco buys
Cornwell Drug
Cornwell Drug Store of Kings
Mountain is being sold to Revco
D.S. Inc. and the transaction is ex-
pected to close on or about March
7.
Revco D.S. Inc. of Twinsburg,
Ohio announced this week the
signing of a sales agreement by
which the company will purchase
and operate as Revco stores nine
Cornwell drug stores in North
Carolina, including the Kings
Mountain store on King Street and
Country Club Drive.
"The acquisition of these stores
is consistent with our strategy for
growth,” said D. Dwayne Hoven,
Revco president and chief operat-
ing officer. "They will increase our
market coverage and make Revco
services more convenient and ac-
cessible to these customers.”
With the completion of the ac-
quisition, Revco will have 273
stores in North Carolina.
In North Carolina, Revco will
operate nine former Cornwell
stores in Morganton, Davidson,
Lincolnton, Maiden, Shelby,
Dallas, Kings Mountain, Stanley
and Conover.
Hoven said customers of all for-
mer Comwell stores will now en-
joy Revco services--including an
advanced patient counseling pro-
gram and products-- and the con-
tinued friendly service to which
they're accustomed. Through
Prescription Access Link, an inter-
active pharmacy computer system,
a Revco pharmacist can provide
prescription information, counsel
patients on medication usage and
provide a personalized Patient
Advisory Leaflet to advise con-
sumers on the proper usc of their
prescribed medicine.
Revco currently operates more
than 1,160 Revco drug stores in
ninc contiguous castern states and
fills more than 46 million prescrip-
tions annually. Based in
Twinsburg, Ohio, the company has
annual sales in cxcess of $2.1 bil-
lion.
ton AB
Bill Martin, left, and Ray McKenney are welcomed by Homer
Baucom, right, to the Kings Mountain Chevrolet dealership which
Baucom sold Friday to Ray McKenney Chevrolet/ Geo.
would not allow the sale of alcohol
in restaurants.
After certifying the names on the
petitions, the Cleveland County
Board of Elections has up to four
months to set a date for the elec-
tion.
Pruette says that local supporters
believe that the sale of beer and
wine for off-premise use might
help attract a grocery store to
Grover. That's one of the town's
Hawkins said the system wants
to continue the development of
computer assistance programs
among other improvements.
The budget items are on the
agenda for Monday's board of edu-
cation meeting.
Five board members, principals
of all seven schools, some teachers,
and administrative staff members
held a marathon 12-hour work ses-
sion, mini retreat Thursday in the
Administrative Office Building ani
Kings Mountain People
Beer petition goes to Board
top concerns, according to Pruette,
who says that many of the town's
approximately 600 people drive to
neighboring Kings Mountain,
Shelby or Blacksburg, SC to buy
groceries.
Pruette says a major food chain
is looking at Grover with an eye to
opening a store but one of the re-
quirements is that the store be al-
lowed to sell beer and wine.
talked about a variety of system
needs--from money to video cam-
eras for school buses. No actions
were taken,
The $246,000 request to the
county, if approved, would pay for
renovations, insurance, paving,
roofs, and auditorium sanding,
painting and flooring, in addition
to other maintenance needs, said
Hawkins.
Hawkins said the state asked for
See Schools, 3-A
et |
See Grover, 9-A
New commissioner
A three-month dispute over how
to count the paper ballots from the
November county commissioner
election is still on.
Courts and the election board in
Raleigh have apparently washed
their hands of the dispute and it's
now up to the Cleveland County
Board of Elections to resolve the
matter.
The local board has set a
meeting on March 24 in the next
step toward resolving the dispute.
Charlie Harry, the fourth place
finisher who thinks he might finish
third and keep his seat on the
board, wants the county board to
view the ballots cast in several
precincts to determine how many
were marked in the manner he
claims. He has suggested, through
his attorneys, that both he and the
third place finisher Sam Gold let
the results of this sampling deter-
mine whether the recount proceeds.
Harry is asking that the board
view the ballots from Shelby
precincts 1, 3, and 4 and from the
Lattimore and Lawndale precincts.
Harry has suggested to Tony
Eastman, chairman of the board of
elections, these five precincts
would provide a representative
sampling.
"By sampling these ballots, ev-
' eryone will have a better idea of
how the voters may have marked
their ballots last November and
whether it makes sense to proceed
for a recount,” said Harry. "The
sampling might not change any-
one's mind, but at least it offers a
chance for that to happen.”
Superior Court Judge Weeks
ruled last week that the Wake
County Superior Court did not
have jurisdiction to act further at
this time on the Cleveland County
still not seated
recount issue and sent the matter
back to the State Board of
Elections. The state board told the
county board to resolve the matter
through a local hearing,
Gold has said he would not
agree to a different type of re-
count, or a visual inspection of the
ballots for irregular marking of
candidates for county commission-
er. "There needs to be some evi-
dence of fraud or irregularity,
which there was none, 16 conduct a
different type of recount," Gold
said.
Rob Deaton; atiorney for Gold,
filed a motion Monday in Wake
County Superior Court seeking an
order restraining the elections
board from holding another re-
count.
Michael Crowell, the attorney
for Harry, said there is no law re-
quiring the ballot be counted up-
side down first and therefore this
would not be substantially different
from the original count. He said the
state board unanimously ruled that
the original recount be conducted
as Harry requested, but that Gold
had protested and got the ruling re-
versed. Crowell would like the
county election officials visually to
inspect a sampling of the ballots to
determine whether the machine
may have missed irregularly
marked votes for Harry.
Last week, new commissioners,
E. T. Vanhoy and Cecil Dickson,
both Democrats, took the oath of
office from Superior Court Clerk
Linda Thrift. The third commis-
sioner will be swom to a four-year
term once the recount matter is set-
tled. - Presently, Harry, a
Republican, remains on the board.
TRIP McGILL
Music is a message
for KM's Trip McGill
Music is the love of Trip
McGill's life.
The 33-year-old Kings Mountain
musician, recently named
Holbrook Junior High Teacher of
the Year, radiates his love of music
in the lives of young people who
sing in his chorus and church
members who sing in his choirs.
It doesn't matter who sings just
so they sing for the joy of singing,
says McGill, son of Norman and
Nancy McGill of Kings Mountain.
Influenced by his grandmother,
the late Mrs. N.E. McGill Sr., he
played piano with her at Boyce
Memorial ARP Church as a young
boy sitting beside her on the piano
bench. He started taking piano
lessons at age seven. He plays pi-
ano, organ and flute flucntly.
"My grandmother started me on
piano,” he said. "We played piano
and organ ducts, most times an of-
fertory or prelude for church.”
His love of music was enhanced
at Kings Mountain High School
when he started band under the di-
rection of Donald Deal. "Mr, Deal
was one of the people who influ-
enced me into teaching,” said
McGill." I developed musically in
the band.
McGill also credits some of his
love for teaching to Mabel Boyter,
an Atlanta-based choir clinician
who often taught him at the ARP
denomination's annual music con-
ference.
After graduating from Ersksine
College with a bachelor's degree in
music, he returned as music direc-
tor at his home church, Boyce
Memorial Church, for 3 1/2 years
and now dirccts the choir at Pisgah
ARP Church.
"Music donc well is a message
to all those in the congregation and
it's a ministry,” said McGill of his
church work. He likes working
with choir members on the details
of the music to make the text come
alive,
See McGill, 12-A
GA AANA sm, Bi