Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / May 27, 1994, edition 1 / Page 6
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Page 4A-THE KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday, May 26, 1994 FE an Opinions JIM HEFFNER Columnist If not courage, what? Courage is defined in Webster's as mental or moral strength. CBS News anchor Dan Rather once used the term to close out his broadcasts. Nobody knows what he meant. I've given the word some thought in the past few days, because I've had some dealings with people I consider courageous. One of my best friends lost a daughter to cancer a few years ago. She was a lovely, smart school teacher, and it took the disease a couple of years to consume the life in her. She left a young husband and two young children. Her parents had a great deal of courage. I used to tell my friend he was a very strong man, and he would say, "I do all my crying in hallways and at night, walking the streets where people can't see me." Steve and Cindy Ellis of Bessemer City lost their only child, Michael, to a nest of yellow jackets last August. I've had occasion to talk to them in the past couple of weeks at their place of business, Mike's Family Restaurant, and I've told them both how much courage they have. "No, I don't," each of them said at separate times. I must respectfully disagree with them. I know they have experienced indefinable grief, but they've pushed it aside and named their restaurant for Michael. They've raised money and established a scholarship fund in his name. Both of them talk freely about their son. Until I can come up with a better definition, I'm still going to call it courage. I can point to three paraplegics that I consider courageous: Lois Smith, Louise Simmons and Ricky Helms. I'm sure there are others, but I happen to know these three. Everybody in these parts knows Lois’ story; an auto- mobile accident when she was in her teens that left her in a wheel chair, a free-lance writer, an award-winning newspaper editor for several decades; a storehouse of knowledge; and loved by all. She is always cheerful and she has a special knack for brightening the day Louise Simmons was shot in the back over ten years ago by a youthful robber, who laughed at her as he rode away on his bicycle. She had parked her truck and was using a phone booth in New Orleans when the attack occurred. She is a skilled craftsman with a ready smile and no time for anyone filled with self pity, a re- markable woman indeed. Much of her time these days is devoted to those less fortunate. Many of you may have seen Ricky Helms wheeling around. That's how he walks his dog. Many days he rolls to the super market and back to his home. Ricky was shot over in Charlotte 18 years ago. He appears to have incredible upper body strength. Ricky took care of his mother until her death a couple of months ago. All these people are imbued with more than a fair share of courage. Recently, I had a conversation about courage with two people, a man and a woman who spend their lives trying to make things better for people with terminal illnesses. I told them I admired them for their work, but I would never be able to do anything like that. They informed me that I didn't know that for sure. "You never know what you are capable of until you've tried," the woman said. "People who know they are going to die are the ones with real courage. Think about this, some of them wake up in the morning not knowing if this will be the last day of their lives, yet they get up and go about the job of living. Most of the time, when I am with one of them, they tell me to cheer up. They don't want to see long faces, they don't have time for it. That is real courage." A good point, but if the folks I've mentioned don't have courage they certainly have a quality with which I am not familiar. HERALD LETTER POLICY The Herald welcomes your letters to the editor for publication in each Thursday's paper. We ask that you use the following guidelines: Keep your letter brief and to the point. Type and double-space them, if possible; if not, write legibly. All letters must be signed in ink and include the full name, address and telephone number of the author for verification purposes. The Herald reserves the right to edit letters for length, spelling, good taste, clarity, libel, slander or any other reason; and reserves the right to reject any letter for any reason. Mail your letters to The Editor, P.O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, N.C. 28086. Established 1889 Published Thursday at East King Street at Canterbury Road, Kings Mountain, North Carolina 28086, USPS 931-040, by Republic Newspapers, Inc.-2nd Class postage paid in Kings Mountain BO ROD 5... iiuassites sansa asssnsrassiarassnias starsbass sseestsns Publisher Darrell Austin ... Associate Publisher Gary SOWA... di deena isan eats stain Editor ENZabOth SIBWAML...covcrseeseresttresins rssssnsssinisesss News Editor Shirley AUSHIN..........oiassscnseseriseses Advertising Representative BIllFURON “i... coeur iia sesna cass Advertising Representative Laura Hullette...............ccocovnruenininene Advertising Representative NENCY MIHIBT asta narrate Advertising Representative Sara Grillin ..... obi cil eae Business Manager Cheryl PUBN i i cos saresrsratnssicsia Bookkeeper Denigce TaDEM .......o eresiiisrarasivssecseates Circulation Manager Fran BIACK ....iacmiiiesniirei aerivessesiorinasersss Production Manager NUHE LONG scones iatraeiss Riansrissaetenssseinisasasasensonces Graphic Artist Noman MOFISON ........c.cccvueeremiinnsiaisinanes Pressroom Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In Gaston & Cleveland Counties: 1 Year $16.00; 6 Months $9.00. Other NC Counties: 1 Year $18.00; 6 Months $10.00. Outside NC: 1 Year $21.00; 6 Months $11.50. REPUBLIC #& NEWSPAPERS. INC. Momber - —- North Carolina Press Association Postmaster: Send Address Changes to: Kings Mountain Herald: P.O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 Back issues, one month or older, when available, are 70¢ per copy. Fast Faets ; Industry inside water and sewer bills for 6 inch meter based on forty-eight million gallons per month usage. Lincolnton Gastonia Newton Bessemer City Mt. Holly Belmont Kings Mountain . Hickory 9. Shelby 10. Morganton Gastonia rate reflects 4% increase on Sewer. WATER AND SEWER 152,946.13 143,495.58 143,056.09 143,043.65 115,200.00 113,991.76 107,903.09 106,235.50 93,189.00 64,760.53 Kings Mountain rate includes 8% proposed increase on Water and Sewer. Shelby rate reflects 33% inside rate increase. Outside rates historically were used to generate their revenues. Morganton has been low due to no big long term debt. This will change as they are considering a 10 Million dollar bond in July 1994. Your Right To Say It Disappointed in City Council To the editor: I am very disappointed reading all about how the City of King Mountain is treating Spectrum on their utility bills. Not once have I heard from Spectrum about the city taking them into the City of Kings Mountain a couple of years back in order for them to pay lower utility rates. No, that doesn't come up. Neither do I hear about Mayor Neisler flying his own plane to Arkansas to pick up a part to repair a wa- ter line at Spectrum in order for them to be back on line in about five hours or so; otherwise it could have taken lots more more. Neither do I hear about the lawsuit that Spectrum has against the City of Kings Mountain. How come all we the citizens hear are Spectrum's complaints and how the city is treating them, and not hear the city's side in all of this? One reason is that Spectrum has four of our Commissioners Buffaloed and the other three don't have a chance at all in the running of the city. Needless to say, I am very disappointed in our new commission- ers and also Jerry White for siding with them on these matters. : : With all of these things happening T don't believe that Spectrum is the good corporate citizen that they let-on to be. If they are the city certainly doesn't need enemies. Lun I think that it is time for the citizens of Kings Mountain to let these new commissioners know that we elected them to run the city fairly, not to play poli- tics and not to play favors, like they are doing with Spectrum. If they don't run the city fairly then we ought to do something. If not now, certainly when the next election comes about. Needless to say, I am disappointed in our newly- elected officials. Norma Bridges, Jim Guyton and Philip Hager, stick in there, because without you we would have nothing. Kyle Smith Lucille did g\ od job To the editor: i It is always sad to see a neighbor move away, espe- cially a good one and the Senior Center will be losing a good neighbor soon. In a few days, Mrs. Lucille Williams, manager/secretary of the Kings Mountain Chamber of Commerce, will no longer be with the Chamber after serving tirelessly and loyally for 31 years. For the past nine years, Lucille has worked out of one of the red cabooses at the depot adjacent to the Senior Center and during this time she has not only operated the one-woman operation at the Chamber, but she has provided a tremendous amount of assistance to many clients at the Senior Center. The Senior Center ceramics shop is located directly beside the Chamber office and she has always been there to lend a hand when the seniors needed access to the shop when pick- ing up and dropping off ceramic items. Lucille presently serves on the Kings Mountain Senior Center Advisory Board and has offered valu- able input and advice regarding program operations. She has shown that she cares about improving the quality of life of senior adults and has been a strong advocate for them. It is rare these days to find individuals who have been as loyal and faithful as Lucille has been. The Kings Mountain Senior Center appreciates these at- tributes and realizes that she will be greatly missed and can not be replaced! Sincerely, Monty Thornburg Aging Director A taxpayer expense? To the editor: Both my wife and I are natives of Shelby, and lived there for almost 25 years. I graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, served in Korea dur- ing the early stages of that conflict and then resigned for compassionate personal reasons. Ford Motor Co. hired me in Charlotte but when the paychecks were forwarded to Washington, DC and lat- er to Detroit, MI, we naturally followed in the moving van. In spite of numerous Ford relocations, we have maintained close ties to Shelby. Mr. Edwin A. Beam is the "grand old man" of the family - a third generation native. At my parents’ death in 1985, we established a trust fund in their memory to provide a small annual schol- arship (Mother was a teacher in Cleveland County over 35 years) and to help fund the sight impaired pro- gram at the Library (my father was very active in that program at the Shelby Lions). We also provided their home at no cost to the First Baptist Church while she was in Shelby Convalescent. They used it for mission- aries home on leave. The point is we have been active, if not resident, supporters of Shelby and Cleveland County all our lives. The issue: Neither we, nor any NC tax payer de- serves what the Kings Mountain City Council is about to do. My son and I met with the KM representative at his request - and our expense - on July 31, 1993 in Shelby to discuss sand removal from Moss Lake, the Kings Mountain water supply. He felt the project would last 10 years, possibly 15, since it was to be used in the contractor's asphalt business. The Shelby grapevine says it will be sold to build the new Shelby by-pass. Why should a private contractor sell it and not the City of Kings Mountain? The Shelby Star had a recent article saying KM is almost bankrupt. i : We agreed to their using the existing right-of-way (at no charge) since it provides the most direct route and the most gentle gradient to the lake. There are also cut-outs at regular intervals along the entire shore line to the proposed site. The City Council, however, has decided to cross a steep hill, and build a new road in the center of our field which is currently planted in trees due to soil erosion. Condemnation proceedings have been initiated, and I suppose we have no choice in the matter except to pursue fair market value for this access. Since this route opens directly into 125 acres with no other access except the existing route men- tioned above which borders our land - Doesn't cut it in half. The last access into a parcel contiguous to this: tract cost the developer $150,000. Why is the Kings Mountain City Council providing this access "free" - at our expense - to a private party? To the best of our knowledge, neither the owners of the 125 acre tract in question nor the contractor have ever been active participants in Cleveland County. Have other contractors who may be bidders on the new Highway 74 by-pass been contacted about sand removal? Both state and federal authorities have been noti- fied. Can they intervene? Or will the taxpayers pay? J. Carver Wood Jr. Bloomfield Hills, MI More bike races needed To the editor: My sympathy to William H. Stewart of Oak Grove Road. I'm happy that his business is doing so good. By my rough calculation his business is grossing $22,400 daily, $112,000 weekly and $5,600,000 yearly. I can see no reason not to purchase a $50 NASCAR ticket. My reasoning for more DuPont Tours as a taxpayer is simple. Never in 24 years of living on Chestnut Ridge Road has any county picked up trash, must less inmates under guard. Our road was repaired and pot holes filled. Another crew cut grass and weeds twice in one week. Another crew trimmed trees and limbs off the right-of-way. On Wednesday, May 18, grass cutters were back cutting grass again. For a 30-minute shutdown, I con- sider it a taxpayer dream of a hassle with county em- ployees. Most important, observations were made of a Yankee photographer on a motorcycle cutting my Honeysuckles and smelling them with delight. He traveled over a thousand miles to smell and see what we take for granted. I can only see positive things in events like this. I had never seen a bike tour race and he had never seen Honeysuckle vines! Bud Medlin Kings Mountain Kings Mountain Weather Report (Compiled by Kenneth Kitzmiller) May 15-24 Year Ago Total precipitation 0 58 Maximum one day 0 38 (19) Year to date 19.96 27.33 Minimum temperature 46 (20) 40 (21) 82 (24) 61.1 Maximum temperature 91 (24) Average temperature 61.7 Mayor's Corner Scott Neisler Engineer department should be retained With the city council's vote to do ‘away with the city's engineering department, I feel as if I am a pas- senger on a runaway train, down a dead-end side track. It has confirmed my fears that indeed there has been an agenda from the very beginning to reorganize city gov- ernment to the detriment of our citizens. Meetings on | the side for purpose of block voting is not the way city 3 government should perform. Our engineering department has not been a luxury : we can't afford, but a department that has made a great | impact on our city. This department single handedly ; negotiated with the state for a project to extend a 12" water-sewer line down Dixon School Road to serve the Welcome Center. This project in excess of one million dollars will cost the city $110,000 split into three year- ly payments. More importantly, the water line exten- sion will open more opportunities in Kings Mountain for industrial growth which equates to more revenue for our utilities. I don't know anyone that would tum down that deal! Also, after July 1 any minor water extensions the city plans for will have to be signed off by a certified engineer. It is illegal for us to extend lines without this approval. By contracting this out it will probably cost the city twice the amount it would have taken had our city engineer done the work in house. ! Year after year I have observed workings of this de- partment and I have been continually impressed with their performance. During the Firestone project our en- gineer saved us $20,000 by boring under I-85 to make provisions for a 6" gas loop for the future. We 4 achieved these significant savings because the boring equipment was already in place. These are but a few examples of the value of this department. It seems as if the patient has been diagnosed with stomach cancer and the city council wants to prescribe brain surgery. We did not address the problems of our industrial water rates when we should have. Since January the consumption has stabilized but we have al- ready lost $191,095 that needed to be made up. We failed to act because of special interest groups, This loss has eaten into the fund balance that would have been carried over into next year. We have lost this op- portunity because we do not want to charge a fair price for our water. The same costs we incur for purifying water is the same for every city. Take a look at the sample of a utility bill to a large water user. The in- creases have been added, look at how affordable our water rate is compared to those around us. ~In,1988 a bold new step was taken to make our city _ government professional ‘and responsive to. citizens’ "needs. A managemént study Was undertaken to best staff our departments. I have always been a supporter of the plan because as laymen we have no expertise in what it takes to run our city. The professionals have in- formation from hundreds of cities in which they tai- lored a plan for Kings Mountain. Our city for the past four years has run the best it ever has with only those that tried to get something for nothing in opposition. I cannot with good consciousness support this bud- get because of the serious cuts that have been made in personnel. It is already affecting service at the expense of the lack of adjusting our water and sewer rates. I would like to ask each and everyone of you to call your council member and tell them how concerned you are over the current situation and ask them to re- store our engineering department to our city. Our fu- ture depends on your response. GUEST COLUMN . - THOMAS GOOLSBY | Carolina Syndicated ~~ Columns Car in every garage If you thought you had heard it all when it came to government give-away programs, here's another one - federal grants to help the unemployed buy cars. No, you're not dreaming - you are wide awake in a brave new world. State and local officials recently an- nounced with serious looks on their faces, that three North Carolina agencies will soon begin receiving fed- eral grants to "help low-income residents find afford- able transportation.” Under the federal JOBS training and basic skills program, unemployed or under-employed individuals will be selected to receive taxpayer-financed loans to help them purchase, repair or maintain an automobile. Who's going to monitor the success of this program? The same people who deliver all of your current su- perb government services, and you can bet that the program will rival the efficiency of the U.S. Postal Service and the collection rate of student loans. Caring and concerned government bureaucrats like Jim Ritchey, general manager of Triangle Transit Authority, explained just how wonderful the program was at a recent press conference by saying, "This will be able to help people get the jobs and educational op- portunities they need.” You may be correct in a few in- stances, Mr. Ritchey, but what about the taxpaying in- dividuals from whom these funds were taken? What gives the government the right to take money they earned and give it to those whose only qualification is a presumed "need." Since when did a "need" become a "right" or a "qualification for a freebie” in this country? Most of us worked long and hard in order to earn our first car. We never expected a government handout or loan to buy a car. Besides, federal, state and local governments al- ready spend millions of our tax dollars subsidizing low-cost public transportation systems all across the Tarheel State. However, the modern-day social welfare state apparently has an unquenchable thirst for money and an uncontrollable desire to spend.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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May 27, 1994, edition 1
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