a
Council to loo
Here are some of the recom-
mended salaries for key City of
Kings Mountain positions in the
new pay plan City Council will
take an indepth look at during the
upcoming spring retreat.
These figures do not compare
the employee's current salaries,
whether higher or lower, with the
recommendations by the consul-
tant. The only comparisons are
with similar jobs in surrounding
cities with what the consultant sug-
gests the local employee should be
paid. The suggested figure for
Kings Mountain is listed first in
each comparison.
City Clerk, $22,451, compares
with Cherryville, $21,000; Forest
City, $22,958; Monroe, $27,922;
Recommendations compare with neighboring towns
Gaston County, $27,524;
Cleveland County, $23,830; and
private sector average, $21,830.
Human Resources Officer,
$28,656, compares with Shelby,
$26,280; Gaston County, $25,699;
Cleveland County, $33,284;
Monroe, $39,289; Lincolnton,
See Compare, 11-A
Wilson
convicted
of murder
A six-year-old girl took the wit-
ness stand and pleaded for her fa-
ther's life and female relatives of
the victims wept openly in the sec-
ond week of a Cleveland County
double murder trial that Kings
Mountain Police say is Kings
Mountain's first capital murder
case in 26 years.
A Cleveland County jury found
Christopher Lamar Wilson guilty
of two counts of first degree mur-
der for the deaths of Ervin
Lovelace and Hugh Wayne
Marcrum, robbery with a danger-
ous weapon and conspiracy to
commit armed robbery.
The 22-year-old Gastonia man
will be sentenced this week.
Wilson testified last/Wednesday
that while he entered Little Dan's
convenience store on S.
Battleground Avenue with the in-
tent of robbing it at gunpoint, he
was only acting in self defense
when he shot the clerk.
Wilson said he was expecting an
unarmed female clerk to be on duty
when he and Jakawn Shawn
"Shalom" Wilson, 19, entered the
store on December 2, 1992
Wilson said he and Wilson, no
kin, had robbed a Hardee's in
Gastonia at gunpoint two days be-
fore the Little Dan's slayings.
Wilson also said he and Wilson,
also known by his alias of Dixon,
routinely armed themselves with
.38 caliber and 9mm pistols.
Wilson said that when he entered
Little Dan's the clerk grabbed a
gun and pointed it at him.
Wilson said he shot at Ervin
Lovelace three times and then fired
at Wayne Marcrum when he tried
to pick up the .38 caliber pistol
Lovelace dropped.
Trial date has not been set in the .
first degree double murder trial
against Shalan Davinski Wilson.
Cassandra Adams, 18, of
Suburban Mobile Trailer Park, who
was driving the getaway car, was
sentenced to a 40-year prison term
in a plea bargaining arrangement.
She had earlier pled guilty to her
part in the robbery—murders.
Testimony in the Wilson trial
indicated the trio were setup by
Wilson's former girlfriend.
The former girlfriend reportedly
told Adams about Little Dan's sev-
See Wilson, 11-A
Grover doesn't
GROVER - Preliminary work on
the 1995-96 budget indicates that
Grover residents won't see a tax
hike or an increase in water and
sewer rates next year.
"With tax reevaluation our tax
rate is in good shape," said Mayor
Ronald Queen who said he will be
ready to present the preliminary
budget to the board in May.
Queen asked Council members
to look at streets and sidewalks and
make a list of needed repairs.
He said that the police budget
will include additional grant mon-
ey for police salaries.
Currently, the town is hiring
three police officers to work a total
of 70 hours a week and the ar-
rangements is "working well," ac-
cording to the mayor.
‘The board also adopted a new
Eddie Wease, back row left, of L&L Auto Sales and Parts presents a check for $1,000 from Mid-State Long Line to
Kings Mountain City Council is
taking a hard look at a new pay
plan, which if implemented for its
160-plus employees, would result
in a 6.8 percent hike in its weekly
payroll.
If City Council opts for adjust-
ing employee salaries to at least the
minimum of the new range the cost
will be $187,567 annually.
However Rebecca Veasey, pres-
ident of Management and
Personnel Services which just
Patricia and Billy Byers Sr. to be used toward the purchase of a handicap-equipped van for their children, Tabitha
and Billy Jr., front row, who are battling Batten's Disease. The check helped raise over $3,000 Saturday during a yard
sale at the Byers home and a professional wrestling match at Kings Mountain Middle School.
Van drive nearing goal
Tabitha and Billy Byers Jr. in
their Mickey and Minnie Mouse
outfits stole the show at the
wrestling match for their benefit
Saturday.
The Kings Mountain family's
goal to raise funds for a specially-
equipped van for their two ill chil-
dren is in sight.
"We will never be able to thank
Kings Mountain area people for all
they have done for Billy Jr. and
Tabitha," said Patricia Byers after a
yard sale and wrestling match
which added over $3,000 to the
$20,000 raised by individual gifts
and fund-raisers.
A car wash on April 15 at the
BB&T parking lot at Walmart
shopping center is expected to get
the drive over the top. Marla
Boone, the wife of one of the
wrestlers who participated in
Saturday's successful fundraiser, is
sponsoring the benefit.
expect tax hike
ordinance to regulate the location
of adult-type ordinances and sig-
nage after a public hearing. Town
Attorney Mickey Corry said that
no one has applied for a license but
that an ordinance was necessary to
regular such operations as adult
bookstores, massage parlors and
live entertainment.
"Such businesses can be operat-
ed in North Carolina appropriately
and a town can't refuse a license
but can regulate where the busi-
nesses will be located,” said Corry.
The ordinance stipulates that
such a business could be located in
the business district but no closer
than 500 feet to churches, schools,
playgrounds or residences and sets
up buffers to limit what would be
See Grover, 3-A
Batten's disease, a rare genetic
disease, struck Billy Jr., 9, when he
was three and Tabitha, 5, when she
was four. Before that the only chil-
dren of Billy and Patricia Byers
were normal, happy, active kids.
Batten's disease deteriorates the
brain and nerves. :
For sometime now the children
have been homebound with a nurse
visiting from Cleveland Home
Health, regular checkups at Duke
Hospital and a homebound teacher.
Mrs. Byers is her children's
around-the-clock nurse. Personal
Service Care worker Bootie
Hamrick helps mornings at bath
time with "Beaker," the family's
pet nickname for Billy, and
"Peanut, the family's pet name for
Tabitha.
Tabitha's illness has continually
worsened with seizures and her
medicine was increased this week.
She requires help to walk and often
must be carried. Billy Jr. is in a
bed-wheelchair. Both children re-
quire around-the-clock attention.
"We include the children in all
the family activities and everything
we do centers around the kids and
their care," said Mrs. Byers.
Both children and their parents
were on the sidelines Saturday for
the professional wrestling match at
Kings Mountain Middle School.
Tabitha was carried into the ring
in her Mickey and Minnie pants
and top that was a gift from the
Make A Wish Foundation on her
birthday.
The wrestlers nad gifts for the
children, including big sunglasses
and an American flag. J. R.
Scruggs, the popular Dozer, who
arranged the benefit, asked Tabitha
to sign his autograph book.
Tabitha laughed and laughed.
See Byers, 11-A
completed the study, recommends
Option II which would adjust em-
ployees to step three if the employ-
ee passed probation and had at
least a 2.5 percent pay increase .
The initial cost to implement
that plan would be $299,008 annu-
ally or a 10.97 percent hike of the
payroll.
Councilmen Jim Guyton and
Councilman Jerry White shared
differences of opinion about paying
merit raises at the recent Council
meeting.
"The merit system is a great in-
centive for a little person in a de-
partment to do better," said White.
"We've had problems with the
merit system because all of our
employees don't get a pay raise,
maybe 95 percent,” said Guyton.
"Kings Mountain's hiring rate is
out of proportion."
Veasey said her proposal is
See Pay 11-A
Public hearing
on sign issue
Public hearing on new sign regu-
lations in the works for about a
year will be conducted April 25 at
7:30 p.m. by Kings Mountain City
Council.
Interim Planning Director Jeff
Putnam said the public is encour-
aged to attend and give input.
The Planning and Zoning Board
reviewed a draft copy of the ordi-
nance recently and passed it on to
City Council for public hearing
and possible adoption. Members of
the committee who developed the
plan after about four months of de-
liberations were Jim Childers,
Clavon Kelly, Gary Joy, Tom
Allison and Rodney Gordon.
The 14-page ordinance spells
out signage which requires permits
and fees as well as advertising and
other signs which may be put up
with a’permit and no fees.
"Things which were never ad-
dressed in the antiquated ordinance
are spelled out in black and
white," said Putnam.
"Our old ordinance had a lot of
holes in it."
The new ordinance sets out the
signs which require permits and
fees and those that require only
permits.
Putnam said that with teeth in
the law the city will start enforcing
the ordinances upon adoption.
Violations of the ordinance, a
misdemeanor under the law, call
for up to $50 a day in fines for
each violation and non-compliance
in 10 days will means that the city
has the right to physically take
down the illegal signs.
Signs not requiring a zoning per-
mit include government and
memorial signs, plaques or grave
markers, public interest signs, on-
premise instructional signs not ex-
ceeding four square feet in area,
identification signs not exceeding
three square feet in area, incidental
signs and temporary real estate
signs not greater than 10 square
feet in any residential district, 32
square feet in any business district
and 64 square feet in any industrial
district so long as the sign is locat-
ed behind the street right-of-way
line.
If the property is on a corner lot,
a second sign may be permitted so
long as signs are at least 200 feet
apart as measured by the shortest
straight line.
Also not requiring a permit are
temporary construction signs up to
50 square feet for each project pro-
vided there is only one sign per
street front per premise. Signs shall
not be illuminated and shall be re-
moved within seven days after
completion of the project.
Temporary farm produce signs
and temporary banners in non-resi-
dential districts don't require a per-
mit if they conform with specifica-
tions. No flag or banner shall
extend above the second floor level
of a building.
Yard sale signs are okay if signs
do not exceed three square feet in
area with one on-premise and three
off premise signs permitted. The
signs must be removed 24 hours
after the sale and never attached to
utility poles. ;
Temporary ‘special event signs
require permits but no fees are as-
sessed.
Under the new ordinance, cam-
paign and election signs shall not
exceed 16 square feet in area and
all such signs shall be removed
within seven days after the election
for which they were made.
Campaign and election signs shall
not be attached to utility poles. =
Prohibited signs are those which
obstruct the view of bicyclists -or
motorists using any streets or ap-
proaches to street intersections or
illuminated highly reflective signs
or spot lights which hampers the
vision of motorists.
Portable signs are not permitted
except with temporary special per-
mits.
Under the ordinance a noncon-
forming sign may not be moved:or
replaced except to bring the sign
into complete conformity with the
ordinance. If there is a change. of
use or name of business on a par-
ticular piece of property and there
were one or more on-premise signs
which advertised the business, any
new signs placed for the new use
or business must meet all sign re-
quirements for the zoning district.
Citizens who want to preview
the new ordinance before the April
Council meeting may do so by vis-
iting the Planning and
Development Office on the second
floor of City Hall.
Tn —————
l
JOHN CALDWELL
{ings Mountain People
War memories bittersweet for Caldwell
Even after 50 years the memories are bitter sweet
for John Henry Caldwell.
April 30 will mark the 50th anniversary of his liber-
ation as a Prisoner of War.
How do you feel when you get a second chance at
life?
"It makes you humble,’
cently had successful cancer surgery.
1
Pvt. Caldwell was captured by the Germans on
October 8, 1944 in Northern Italy. He was on a patrol
in the fog and rain when two enemy machine guns
opened fire.
On his 20th birthday he came home from the war,
said Caldwell who also re-
As the American forces pushed the Germans back.
the pressure became intense.
"The German officers said that if they saw anyone
flying white sheets and pillow cases outside that we
would be shot.”
"We laid low until an American officer came with K
rations and we were on the way to Camp Lucky
Strike in La Harve, France.
I had not had a bath in seven months and had worn
the same pants and shirt but someone had given me a
pair of wooden shoes.”
"We almost starved to death, but of course the
Germans had little food for themselves.”
said
Caldwell's daily rations had included one potato
The men huddled together to stay warm and played
"set backs.” the cards someone got from the Red
June 6, 1945, and he never enjoyed a happier birthday. Caldwell.
Caldwell, 69, said he survived Stalag 7A at
Mooscburg, Germany by secret prayer meetings held and one piece of bread.
with the 49 other captured Americans who slept on
wooden bunks, had little food and water and rode a
train daily to Munich to work for the Germans on the Cross.
railroads and bombed out buildings.
See Caldwell 11-A
ETE AIRES