TS
Dave Odom, who coached the
Wake Forest Demon Deacons to
their first #1 seed in the Atlantic
Coast Conference since 1962 and a
leading candidate for ACC Coach
of the Year, will be guest speaker at
the eighth annual Kings Mountain
Sports Hall of Fame banquet
Tuesday, May 16 at 7 p.. at the
Community Center.
Tickets are $10 and will go on
sale soon. Tickets may be pur-
chased from any member of the
Hall of Fame Committee, various
businesses around town, and at the
door.
The Hall of Fame Committee
has been meeting regularly since
January to plan the event and select
the inductees. This year's inductees
Petition
drive 75%
complete
Retired Clty Planner Gene
White was heading down the home
stretch this week with over 75 per-
cent of the 431 names needed on
petitions calling for two-year terms
for Kings Mountain City Council.
White said he expects to wind
up the petition drive in the next
few days and wants those who are
helping him in door-to-door can-
vasses to mail or take their peti-
tionis to 315 Fulton Drive or call
nim and he will pick them up.
If 431 signatures are validated,
the county board of elections is re-
quired to set a referendum on the
issue, which White hopes can be
done prior to the fall municipal
The terms of Mayor Scott
Neisler and Council members Phil
Hager, Norma Bridges and Jim
Guyton are up this year.
White will present the petitions
to City Council on March 28.
"l am hearing overwhelming dis-
pleasure with city government and
overwhelming frustration by peo-
ple about billing errors on utilities,"
said White.
White said he wanted to talk
face-to-face with Kings Mountain *
citizens and he said he has had
tremendous response from citizens
who prefer a two year term for
Council instead of the current four
year term.
White said that because of com-
puter and billing errors some peo-
ple have been charged $550 for gas
instead of $55, for instance, during
one month's time and find their
bills unchanged the next month af-
ter the error is reported.
He said he has suggested to city
officials that the city install system
parameters which would kick out
or indicate abnormally high or low
bills.
"I thought Council had decided
to take those steps months ago but
they did not and this would be a
way to restore credibility and
would not be expensive to install."
Like his father, Ollie Harris Jr.
would have preferred to remain in
the shadows.
Father and son have been in the
limelight for a number of years and
although Ollie Jr. didn't follow in
his Dad's footsteps in business and
politics, the two shared a common
goal: to be the best of whatever life
offered.
Ollie Harris Sr. is Kings
Mountain's former longtime N.C.
Senator and longtime funeral direc-
tor.
Ollie Jr., 59, went to Houston,
Texas 33 years ago and changed
tonks and sagging-roofed shops
with a developer's vision for this
include the late James "Red"
Layton, who was a three-sport star
at KMHS in the 1930s and a pro-
fessional baseball player; Punch
Parker, an All-American running
back at The Citadel in the early
1960s; Bud Bumgardner, popular
coach at Kings Mountain High
School in the 1970s and 1980s; and
the 1966 Teener League All-Star
baseball team which won the state
and Southeast Regional champi-
onships and finished third in the
Teener World Series in Hershey,
Pa. Feature stories on the inductees
will appear in future editions of
The Herald.
Odom's Wake Forest team came
on strong late in the season to
knock off all of the ACC leaders
Temple Baptist 50 years 0
Odomto 0
{Fame
and force a final four-way tie for
first place between the Deacons,
Virginia, North Carolina and
Maryland. Because Wake Forest
swept Virginia and split with
Maryland and UNC, the Deacons
were awarded the top seed for this
week's ACC Tournament. The
tournament champion receives an
automatic invitation to the NCAA
Tournament.
Odom is in his sixth season as
head coach of the Deacons and is
well on his way to becoming the
school's all-time winningest coach.
He completed his fifth season last
year with a 90-60 record, putting
him 12 wins ahead of legendary
See Odom, 14-A
| 3
City Councilman Jim Guyton, left, Sandra Albrecht and Mayor Scott Neisler look at a new colored-cod-
DAVE ODOM
ed zoning map developed by the land use review committee. The land development plan is the city's first
updated version in 20 years.
Only handful attend meeting on land use
ay b MOR 1A &
HANEY JEDNONT AVE og0gk 3414
KING :
Only a handful of people turned out Tuesday night
to preview the city's new color-coded zoning maps and
hear a presentation of a new land development plan in
the works for 13 months.
"I'm disappointed,” said Joe Champion, who con-
ducted the second community meeting on the plan.
Facilitator Sandra Albrecht of Centralina Council of
Governments said the 15 committee members - the
majority attending Tuesday's meeting - will meet again
for fine-tuning of the plan before presenting the 84-
page draft and Kings Mountain's official zoning maps
to City Council.
Albrecht called the plan a document that City
Council can refer to in making land use decisions and
a guide for future land development but not mandato-
ry.
"We are merely suggesting different strategies but
we would hope the book doesn't gather dust on the
shelf."
Mayor Scott Neisler commended the committee and
called the plan a visionary statement.
"We'll use it as a bible, a statement of what Kings
Mountain is and hopes to be." :
Neisler was the only citizen of 17 people present
who offered more input into the draft.
While he applauded the community appearance seg-
ment of the plan, he said that a prison work release
program now underway in the city is "good for Kings
Mountain."
Prison labor is renovating the second floor of city-
owned Mauney Memorial Library and on trash detail
every Friday. One of the next projects is to weed the
garden at the city monument at the western entrance to
the city and plant 500 day lilies donated by a local hor-
ticulturist.
"My pet peeve is city beautification and I'm delight-
ed that this plan includes the promotion of the city's
positive image," said the mayor.
Neisler suggested that since Powell Bill funds from
the state have been freed up for sidewalk construction
that the committee prioritize new sidewalk construc-
tion as well as new gas line extensions.
The existing zoning map and land development plan
is 20 years old. Champion said the new plan should
take the city into the 21st Century.
The plan focuses on nine different areas and concen-
trates on specific goals and recommendations for an
efficient and safe transportation system, a diverse
housing environment, a vibrant and healthy down-
town, the expansion of new and existing businesses
and industries, community appearance, recreation and
open space, historic preservation, accessible public
utility systems and environmental quality and general
planning.
See Land Use, 14-A
gs done
Pasadena's crooked streets, honky
suburb that paved the way for that
city's southern expansion.
His planned residential and com-
mercial development of some
1,500 acres along both sides of
Fairmont Parkway stands as a tes-
tament to order, a monument to his
unswerving commitment to himself
to build what he believed was true
and proper and right.
"Ollie Jr. was the one who put
all of south Pasadena together and
make it work," said his father.
Recently, Harris deeded proper-
ty to the Pasadena Chamber of
Commerce, another indication of
the magnanimous loyalty he has
had in the community where his re-
al estate domain includes homes,
stores and office buildings. He
turned what many thought to be
worthless land into the most valu-
able non-industrial land in the city.
Indeed, his father and friends
and associates described Harris as
single-minded and driven, a man
determined not to be ordinary, a
ruthless negotiator determined that
business be done his way.,
A native of Cleveland County,
Ollie Jr. was destined to take over
Harris Funeral Home in Kings
Mountain where the family has
lived since 1947. But as a man in
his late 20's, he tossed this future
aside and moved to Houston, Texas
to work for his uncle, Bob Harris,
in land development.
John O., as Texans know him,
developed the Arlington Heights
subdivision across the city line in
South Houston as his first of many
projects.
But six months after Ollie Jr.
went to work for him in 1963, Bob
Harris was murdered.
That sudden turn of events left
John O. - his friends call him John
O.- more or less in charge. And
when his aunt sold out the develop-
ment business in 1971, John O.
went out on his own, first as a bro-
ker, then as a developer in his own
right.
The rest of his success story is
history.
During the 1960s and carly mid
] lal Mountaineers advance
in state nla=-C7..
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10/20/30
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LIBRARY
2 WOONTALN NE
Lake issues
o to Council
"We have no
authority to grant
easements. It's a
moot point."
-Joe Champion
Lake Commission Chairman
Moss Lake Commission refused
to make a recommendation on two
requests Monday night, referring
both matters to City Council.
"This is not issues we can speak:
to," said Chairman Joe Champion
after the board heard a request
from Al Moretz for a review of
construction documents at
Farmington Subdivision which he’
said he thought had been settled in
1991-92 when Harmon Properties
wanted a 1500-feet easement
across a city-owned control strip
at Moss Lake and a request from
Recreation Director Karen Byers to
run the concessions at Moss Lake
this summer in lieu of taking bids.
Moretz produced letters under
dates of November 22, 1991 that
indicated that the developer would
accept the stipulations made by the
planning board which included that
the developer reimburse the city
for the cost of an appraisal, ease-
ment, and engineering drawings for
construction of the roadway, re-
taining walls or other structures
which would cross city property.
"My client wants to buy the strip
owned by the city and he under-
stands that this board can't sell
property," said Moretz.
"We only need approval of con-
struction drawings and Mr.
Harmon had a strong opinion that
he could get the easement after
dealing with the city planning de-
partment and city manager three
years ago."
"We have no authority to grant
easements,” said Champion. "It's a
moot point."
New member Wendell Bunch
agreed with Champion, adding the
City Council stripped the board of
its authority when it renamed the
Authority a commission.
Moretz said the same action on
the change of name came in the
same meeting that the board dis-
cussed his prior request for
Harmon Properties.
Murray Pruette, who has been
on the lake commission since in-
ception, recalled that the matter
was tabled for more information in
1991. He said the encroachment
agreement was denied and he made
a substitute motion that the matter
go to Council.
Acting Planning Director Jeff
Putnam said he had discussed the
request with City Attorney Mickey
See Lake, 14-A
1970's, Harris plotted and sold
some 1500 lots on what remain to
this day some of the city's best
looking and most expensive
homes, the most upscale in
Pasadena.
In the early 1970's it appeared
Harris would be owner of a profes-
sional sports team. He put up
$500,000 of the $5.6 million pur-
chase price to buy the San Diego
Rockets but the team lost 22 of its
first 26 games, killing the backing
of those who had underwritten the
venture. After two years, the origi-
nal group of 12 owners sold the
team at a loss.
"That was probably the only un-
See Harris, 14-A
Development |
put on hold |
Kings Mountain businessmen|
Butch Kerns and Ronnie Whetstine
have put their proposed Williams
Street development on hold follow-
ing a petition signed by 27
Williams and Edgemont Drive
property owners to the recent meet-
ing of the Planning and Zoning
Board.
The board rejected the request
by a vote of 4-2. Lou Ballew, John
Houze, Jim Childers and M. C.
Pruette, chairman, voted to deny
the request. Lee McIntyre and
Odus Smith favored the request.
Roger Goforth was absent.
But Whetstine, a local builder
and co-developer with the Kerns
Trucking executive, said the sketch
plan for the proposed development
may be brought to the attention of
City Council, which has the ulti-
mate vote in the matter.
"As long as the Planning &
Zoning Board continues to hold
back new development in town
Kings Mountain is going to sit here
and dry up,” said Whetstine who
said the objecting neighborhood
would not sit down with them and
talk about the proposed single-fam-
ily patio homes.
Last Thursday night Charles
Blanton, Tim Gardner and Allen
Fuller, all residents of Williams
Street, expressed concern for high
density buildings and said they
were worried about increase in lo-
cal traffic on a narrow road as well
as sideyard setbacks.
Kerns stressed the need for
change, pointing out that with the
addition of Firestone and Sara Lee
industries, Kings Mountain needs
to make provision to accommodate
the people who will want to move
to Kings Mountain.
Whetstine said that employees
of major industries now reside in
Gastonia and Shelby.
"I do not feel that traffic would
be a problem with buffers and
screening and privacy would be
welcomed by the new home own-
ers who would find the cost of yard
maintenance very low," he said.
"Every developer who wants to
build in Kings Mountain runs into
obstacles," said Whetstine.
"City Council let Upper
Cleveland County take water up to
our city limits and what kind of
planning do we have?" he asked.
"We might as well put signs up
and say that no new developments
are welcome."
"We already meet the R-10 zon-
ing requirements and can put up
eight single family residences in
there or 800-square feet of rental
property," said Whetstine.
See Petition, 14-A
OLLIE HARRIS JR.