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eInside Today's Heralde
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VOL. 105 NO. 13
Boat slip
approved
City Council upheld a recom-
mendation of the Moss Lake
Commission 5-1 Tuesday night and
authorized Moss Lake residents
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Wherry's re-
quest to install boat slip and lift.
The Wherrys have been to sever-
al Lake Commission meetings re-
cently. and City Council last
month returned the matter to the
Lake Commission.
"The boat slip would keep the
natural shoreline and would be
more of a safety factor than any-
thing else," Mrs. Wherry said again
Tuesday night. Lake Commission
Chairman Joe Smith agreed.
City Manager George Wood had
recommended that the board deny
the boat slip because city ordinance
stipulates that no alterations to the
shoreline be allowed. Utility
Commissioner Al Moretz agreed
and voted against the motion to ap-
prove.
Wood said a seawall would take
care of erosion but said city ordi-
nances permit no alterations to
contour lines.
Smith contended the city won't
be setting a precedence in authoriz-
ing the boat slip and lift. He main-
tained that a dock built on the
shoreline would extend too far into
the water.
"This is an unusual situation and
we could have a problem with a lift
jutting too far and a boat slip
would be be a safety factor,” said
Smith.
Another resident of Moss Lake
was at Tuesday's meeting to com-
-plain about what he says are strict
requirements for certified plans for
dock covers.
Myron Marchant says he wants
to build a dock cover which will
cost over $2,650 but that the city
requires certification from an ar-
chitect which could cost another
$400. "This sticks in my craw,” he
said. "I have to pay 20 percent of
the finished product to get a stamp
of approval.”
"It's hard for us to improve the
looks of the lake," said Marchant.
Mayor Scott Neisler said Moss
Lake is different from other recre-
ational areas in it that it is the chief
source of Kings Mountain's drink-
ing water and must be protected.
Lake gates
to be locked
Gates on New Camp Creek
Church Road at Moss Lake will be
locked from dusk to dawn begin-
ning March 1-October 31, the City
Council agreed Tuesday night after
discussing recommendations pre-
sented by Recreation Director
David Hancock.
These same gates remain locked
24 hours per day, except for main-
tenance, from November 1-
February 28, as an off season safe-
ty control measure.
Hancock said that property lines
along New Camp Creek Road will
be protected with a barrier appro-
priate to keep vehicles out when
the park is closed.
He also suggested that the bait
shop be demolished but at the urg-
See Lake, 11-A
[Kings Mountain People
Retired grocer Charlie Blalock
“is now 'Apple Man of Bethlehem’
Thursday, April 1, 1993
THE BEST OF THE BEST
ny Monday at the Community Center. In top photo are the individual inductees aiid Special Achievement
Award winners. Left to right are Carl Champion of the Hall of Fame Committee, Freddy Smith, Steve
Moffitt, Ann Davis (representing the late Coman Falls) and Richard Gold. Back is guest speaker Mickey
Marvin. In lower photo are members of the unbeaten 1945 KMHS men's basketball team. Left to right,
Jim Herndon, Dub Hicks, Houston Black, Bob Neill, Jim Hullender and Coach Don Parker.
Hall of Fame inductions held
Three individuals who attained much success in
sports and Kings Mountain High's only unbeaten bas-
ketball team were inducted into the Chamber of
Commerce Sports Hall of Fame Monday night at the
Community Center.
Honored were the 1945 KMHS men's basketball
team, which compiled a 15-0 record en route to the
Western Conference title; dirt track racing legend
Freddy Smith and baseball, football and basketball
stars Coman Falls and Richard Gold.
Mickey Marvin, former All-Pro guard with the
Oakland Raiders, was guest speaker for the sixth annu-
al event which was attended by 350 people.
The new inductees brought the number of Hall of
Famers to 23. Four have been inducted each year ex-
cept for 1990 when three were honored. Since '90 the
Hall of Fame committee has selected one deceased and
three living members.
Don Parker, who coached basketball at KMHS from
1943-67, inducted his '45 team which ran roughshod
over all 15 of its opponents. In an era when low-scor-
ing games were the norm, the Mountaineers averaged
over 50 points per game and held seven of their oppo-
nents to 15 points or less.
All five starters attended Monday's fete. They in-
cluded Houston Black, Jim Hullender, Jim Herndon,
Dub Hicks and Bob Neill. They received framed cer-
tificates and the team received a huge Hall of Fame
plaque which will hang in Mauney Memorial Library.
"All five of these men were not only good basket-.
ball players but they have been successful in life," said
Coach Parker. "That's what makes me so proud of
them."
Freddy Smith, who has accumulated over 700 victo-
ries and three World Championships in 28 years of dirt
track racing, was inducted by his long-time friend
Haskell Blackwell. Blackwell, a mechanic, helped,
Freddy get his start in racing.
"The Smith name will last forever in dirt racing,"
Blackwell said. "I remember in 1965 when Freddy
won his first race at Gaffney. He is one of the greatest
drivers anywhere, including NASCAR."
Smith has such talent, Blackwell said, that he drives
his car at top speed in the turns. When other drivers try
to follow him, they spin out because they don't have
Smith's driving ability.
"When Freddy's out walking, he walks so slow,"
Blackwell noted, "but when he gets in that race car he
really goes." } { {
Smith has been hailed as one of racing's gentlemen.
He always has a big smile on his face and never gets
upset with another driver.
"His sportsmanship qualities came from his mother,
who told him to always do what is right," Blackwell
said. "I always wanted him to run over people.”
Off the race track, Blackwell said Smith is a very
caring and compassionate person. He often visits peo-
ple in the hospital and always takes time to be friendly
to his fans and everyone he comes in contact with.
"Three months ago I was in the hospital and couldn't
walk and could barely talk,” Blackwell noted. "Freddy
came in with his famous smile on his face and said,
'you're too tough to let this get you down. We need to
talk about you getting out of here.’ People always talk
about Richard Petty's smile, but his is nothing com-
pared to Freddy's."
Smith, who-has a quiet nature, accepted his award
with humility.
"I appreciate the Hall of Fame for selecting me, and
I appreciate the Good Lord for letting me do all of this
in racing," he said. "I appreciate my family. I couldn't
be here without them."
See Hall, 6-A
Photos by Gary Stewart
HONORED BY HALL OF FAME «The Kings Mountain Hall of Fame held its sixth induction: ceremo- «
By ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
Charlie Blalock, the ‘apple man
in the Bethlehem Community, has
been growing home-grown apples
for years and producing fine cider
from 200 trees he planted in 1961.
People ask him how he got his
reputation and he tells them quite
simply that "God is good to me and
I worked hard." i800
Golden and Red Delicious ap-
ples and Granny Smith apples are
the favorites of apple lovers who
~ come from far and near to sample
‘his crops from trees on his 100-
~ year-old farm and Blalock home-
place and from dwarf trees in his
garden at the comfortable brick
home he shares with his wife,
Nora, a short distance from his ap-
ple orchards.
_ Spraying the trees cight to ten
times a year and replacing some
are his tricks of the trade. Hr
He admits that his cider crop
hasn't been as heavy during the’
past several years because he and
his wife haven't been able to climb
See Blalock, 12-A
FRANK MARK RIPPY
Kings Mounta
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A joint agreement was signed
Tuesday by Kings Mountain and
the State Department of
Transportation to run water and
sewer lines to approximately 30
houses on Dixon School Road in a
major utility project that will run
$1.4 million.
Engineering fees for the prelimi-
nary routing phase of the project
were approved by City Council.
The state will pay for all but 10
percent of the cost of $155,000.
The city's total share, 10 percent
of the total cost of the project, in-
cluding the design cost of
$110,000, would be paid over a
three year period beginning with
the 1994-95 fiscal year.
The N.C. Department of
Transportation has adopted plans
for the utility improvements at the
northbound Welcome Center and
southbound Rest Area along I-85
in Cleveland County and is joining
with the city which has been study-
ing for three years ways to expand
its water and sewer system to serve
that area.
The water connection to the I-85
Rest Area will include the installa-
tion of an eight inch water line to
be built from an existing water ser-
vice at the southwest corporate
limits of the City of Kings
Mountain adjacent to the
[Pay deadline |
IS extended
The city's goof in failing to enter
two gas accounts into the billing
system got the attention of City
Council Tuesday and Danielle
Corbin, of East Mountain Street,
and Jeff Gregory, of Fairview
Street, were given six months to
pay back bills.
Utility Commission Chairman
Al Moretz said he advocates ex-
tending more time for payment of
accounts in situations posing finan-
cial hardships but defended the city
staff who, he said, was following
the city policy of extending no
more than 90 days for overdue ac-
counts.
Moretz also defended City
Manager George Wood and said
that Wood had worked hard "to
work something out" after Corbin
had come to last month's board
meeting,
"We don't need to keep this mat-
ter hanging," said Councilman Jim
Guyton. "Take each case as indi-
vidual on special accounts like
these and let Council take the re-
sponsibility.
But Moretz disagreed with that
Chesterfield = Apartments on
"Margrace Road. The line would |
turn south under the Norfolk
Southern Railroad, cross NC 216
and change to a 12 inch water line
southward onto Dixon School
Road and change to a six inch wa-
ter line on Tin Mine Road and run
to the rear of the Departments’ Rest
Area property.
A four-inch force main sewer
line will be constructed from a
manhole at the Chesterfield
Apartments, proceed south under
the Norfolk Southern Railroad and
onto Tin Mine Road.
A proposed lift station would be
installed on Tin Mine Road and the
theory and said that the city doesn't
need 10 change its policy "We have
a a vk aT wand we ne ed.
y Lc with i
Commissioner Norma Bridges
asked Mrs. Corbin what she
thought was a fair extension of
time. Corbin said the payment plan
had not been satisfactory and that
the board should rectify the prob-
lem.
Gregory asked for a six month's
extension of time due to what he
called extenuating circumstances
and Wood recommended that the
extension be given.
Gregory applied for gas in July
1991 when the family moved back
to Kings Mountain from
See Gas, 11-A
See Water, 11-A
Texas men face drug charges
Two Texas men are in Cleveland
County jail facing felony charges
of conspiracy to traffic marijuana
and trafficking marijuana.
Ambrosio C. Escamilla, 40, of
3713 Pike St., Weslaco, Texas, and
Isidro de Leon Rodriquez, 34, of
Houston, Texas, were arrested in
Kings Mountain Tuesday at 9:15
p.m. The suspects were jailed in
lieu of $250,000 secured bond.
Chief Warren Goforth said po-
lice seized 150 pounds of marijua-
na hidden inside the gas tank of a
black and silver GMC Suburban
truck they stopped in the parking
lot of Burger King on York Road.
Goforth said the marijuana has a
street value of over $100,000.
Goforth said that officers ob-
served the back end of the vehicle
was loaded down and stopped it.
Goforth said that police drug dogs
scented the controlled substance in”
the gas tank area of the vehicle and
the vehicle was taken to city
garage where the gas tank was re-
moved.
Assisting in the drug bust were
members of the 27B Drug Task
Force along with Goforth and his
officers, Ptl. Wayne Thomas and
K-9 Joker, Shelby officer Tim
Walker and K-9 Nero, Reserve
Commander Jackie Barnette, Pil.
Maurice Jamerson, Sgt. Billy
Benton and Sgt. Phil Witherspoon
with the Kings Mountain Police
Department.
The drug bust is reported to be
part of an international drug smug-
gling ring operating out of
Gastonia. A task force of local,
state and federal agents have been
investigating the ring since May
1992. Agents called the ring
Operation Turncoat because almost
everyone arrested has cooperated
with police. :
Jeweler Frank Rippy, 76,
dies March 25 in Asheville
Frank Mark Rippy's philosophy
was that "you don't go wrong when
you try to help somebody else, if
you do it from the heart.”
Rippy, of 411 N. Piedmont Ave.,
died March 25, 1993 at VA
Medical Center in Asheville. He
was 76.
Kings Mountain's oldest jeweler,
both in terms of age and years of
service, sold his 40-year-old
Piedmont Avenue jewelry store
nine years ago to take care of his
sick wife who died in 1990 after 55
years of marriage.
Repairing clocks and watches
came easy for Rippy. He made
house calls to repair large clocks
and also fixed watchmen's clocks
for some of the mills in town and
also for Southern Railway.
Rippy worked 14 hour days, ex-
cept Sunday, and took only one
week's vacation in his life and that
was to New York City to buy parts,
The native of Earl got hooked on
the jewelry business after several
years in the textile mills. He started
working at the old Phenix Mill in
the 1930's and then took a sweep-
ing job at Park Yarn Mills in 1935,
In 1941, Rippy borrowed the mon-
ey from grocer W. T. Weir to buy
See Rippy, 2-A
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