of promoted
12-A
City Council races begin to show interest
Hager goes for second term
Phil Hager, the city's first black
councilman, is winding up his first
four years in of-
fice and hoping
to be awarded
another two-
year term when
voters go to the
polls October
10.
Hager thus far
is the only per-
son to file in
Ward One.
Hager said he
HAGER
KM City Council
wants Gary Hicks
Kings Mountain City Council
met in closed session Thursday
night to discuss the possibility of
hiring an interim city manager and
may make an official decision on
the matter at next Tuesday night's
City Council meeting.
According to sources, three
names were discussed and the
Council actually interviewed re-
tired Gastonia City Manager Gary
Hicks. According to a source, °
Hicks is the favored candidate and
would probably be a unanimous
choice.
Hicks presently is serving as in-
terim city manager of Lowell, but
he is on a week to week contract
that can be ended at any time by ei-
ther party. The City Attorney,
Mickey Corry, and Personnel
Director, Winston Bagley, are to
meet again with Hicks to discuss
terms of a possible contract.
The Council also discussed for-
mer Cleveland County Manager
Joe Hendricks and one other candi-
date. Hendricks was reportedly in
line for the interim position after
George Wood left the city in early
1994 but the Council named then
assistant Finance Director Maxine
Parsons. Parsons is now Finance
Director.
A Council member said the city
hopes the interim would serve
through the remainder of this year
as the city tries to hire a replace-
ment for Chuck Nance, who is
leaving August 1.
The Council at this time does
not have another meeting sched-
uled to interview possible candi-
dates, indicating that an interim
may be named next week.
Hicks served the City of
Gastonia for over 20 years.
has many goals for the next two
years, but the primary one is to re-
store credibility to City Hall. For
over a year, the city has been em-
broiled in controversy over fi-
nances and many employees and
department heads have left.
"I would like to see the city rep-
resentative of the citizens again, in-
stead of maybe what appears to be
some private agendas," he said. "I
would just like to see credibility re-
stored in the political arena with
See Hager, 3-A
Childers wants Mayor's seat
Former City Councilman Jim
Childers is the first citizen to file
for mayor in
the upcoming
October 10
city election.
Childers
was an unsuc-
cessful may-
oral candidate
four years ago
after spending
eight years on
City Council
as a represen-
CHILDERS |
tative of District One.
Mayor Scott Neisler has not yet
filed for reelection but intends to
do so. In case of a run-off, it would
be held on November 7 at the time
of the general elections of School
Board and other county elections.
Childers said with the city
switching to two-year terms for
Council and mayor, and with the
current political environment, the
city will need experienced leader-
ship such as his during the next
two years.
‘See Childers, 3-A
Jessie Collins, second from right, presents check to Larry Hamrick Jr. from Kings Mountain Woman's
Club to be applied to the renovation of the old Kings Mountain Post Office as a Historical Museum. Left is
Historical Museum Foundation President Pat Plonk and right is Esther Muench.
Historical Museum gets financial boost
The Kings Mountain Historical Museum Foundation
received another financial boost this week, and next
week hopes to receive word on what the City of Kings
Mountain will do to help bring the long-awaited dream
to reality.
The City Council plans to discuss support of the
Museum at its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night
Lovell.
son; Arlene Barrett, publicity chairperson; Eloise
Crawford, Helen Hendricks, Grace Page and Chris
Linda Dixon chaired the fashion show, which was
attended by 80 people. Pat Plonk, president of the
at City Hall. The Foundation then hopes to move for-
ward with turning the old U.S. Post Office on
Mountain Street into the city's first historical museum.
The Foundation recently received a $25,000 state
grant to renovate the Post Office, and this week mem-
bers of the Home Life Department of Kings Mountain
Woman's Club presented a check for $445 to
Foundation officers. The check represented the pro-
ceeds from a card party and fashion show by Matthews
Belks.
Members of the Home Life Department are Jessie
Collins, chairperson; Ellen Foster, assistant chairper-
KINGS MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
Historical Museum, and Larry Hamrick Jr., treasurer,
accepted the check.
Local people began making plans for a historical
museum in 1985 and received its charter from the state
on April 7, 1986. Since that time citizens have donated
historical items which are stored above the old fire de-
partment on North Piedmont Avenue. Museum cases
have been purchased from funds originally donated to
the City of Kings Mountain Centennial celebration.
The Foundation hopes to open the museum by the
end of the year. Local citizens, businesses and others
interested in joining in the fund raising effort may call
Pat Plonk at 739-2443.
Raymond Revels doesn't operate
his wheelchair on the highway of-
ten but when he does he wheels
cautiously a good couple of blocks
from Chesterfield Apartments on
Margrace Road to Little Dan's
Convenience Store.
"T always look out for traffic,"
said the 80-year-old man who has
been in a wheelchair for six years
since his right leg was amputated.
Revels said he used to go to the
Kings Mountain Senior Center for
lunch but he he has a friend who
cooks for him and "it's just too hot
to get out of this shade tree.”
Revels sits under a shade iree
outside his apartment 8 and enjoys
the summer.
A former cotton mill worker at
the old Margrace, Sadie Mills,
Phenix and Cora Mills and a
"speeder" hand at the Lawndale
Cotton Mill for 30 years, he started
working at age 15.
"When I got married in 1935 1
was making $10 a week and then
President Roosevelt upped our
wages to $14 a week," he laughed.
Revels remembers seeing
Roosevelt when he passed through
Kings Mountain in a car .
Revels' philosophy:
Use what you have
"I don't know what year it was
but I remember the big car had a
flag on it and the President came
by the main part of town."
Revels has lived in Kings
Mountain about 30 years. and in
the Chesterfield Apartments for 12
years. He has two sons, Randy and
Dennis Revels, who live in New
Orleans, La., and 10 grandchildren.
Born November 21, 1914 in
Shelby, he has seen many changes
in the county over his lifetime.
"This is a good place to be,” he
says.
Revels is a soap opera fan and
turns his television set for the after-
noon shows.
"I don't really have a favorite
one," he says.
Revels likes music and church
services on television and especial-
ly enjoys gospel singing prograins.
He loves cigars and when he
runs out of smokes and friends
aren't near he heads for the conve-
nience store.
"I always learned to use what I
had and I get around pretty good in
this chair,” he said.
"And I'm really a safe driver and
watch out for the other fella."
-n
Four file for at-large seat
The first race developed for a
City Council
when three cit-
No rm a
Bridges filed
for the at-large
seat.
| all other coun-
BRIDGES cil races -
mayor and wards one and two -
have only one person in the race
seat this week |
While-
izens and in- | |
cumbent |
GRIGG
thus far, the at-large seat is attract-
ing a lot of attention.
See Race, 7-A
Heavy thunderstorm
NORRIS
causes evacuation
Heavy thunderstorms that came
through the area earlier this week
caused only minor damages but
were an inconvenience for many
residents.
A powerful storm Sunday after-
noon knocked out electricity for
many residents in the Bethlehem
area, the Kings Mountain Water
Plant and Pilot Creek Wastewater
Treatment Plant.
Then, early Tuesday morning, a
major storm came through the area
of southern Kings Mountain and
Grover. Lightning struck a Duke
Power J transformer J at
Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line
near Grover causing the plant to
shut down and some 50 residents
of the Battleground Road, Dixon
School Road and Jim Patterson
Road areas to be evacuated.
According to Karen Hale of
Transco's Communications
Department, no one saw the light-
ning strike but station manager
Artis Byers did discover a charred
transformer.
Hale said the strike occurred
about 1:20 a.m., and within 15
minutes employees were on the
scene. When such a strike occurs,
Hale said the station automatically
shuts down as a safety precaution.
When the station shut down, the
natural gas coming into the station
was vented out and released into
the atmosphere. Hale said such a
shutdown causes extreme noise but
no danger to area residents.
Contrary to some reports, Hale
said the lightning strike did not
cause a gas leak.
"This is a compressor station,"
Hale explained. "Natural gas
New D.A.R.E.
wants to be good role model
Becoming Kings Mountain's
new D.A.R.E. officer was a tough
decision for KMPD patrol sergeant
Lisa Capps, but the new job which
she assumes with the opening of
school is one she is very excited
-
about.
Teaching will allow Capps to
work on her own goal of achieving
her college degree, and at the same
time give her the opportunity to be-
come a positive role model for
children who sometimes face a lot
of pressure.
Capps was encouraged to apply
for the job by other officers who
thought she was right for the pro-
gram and she felt it would be a
great opportunity. But two weeks
after taking the job she found out
she had passed the sergeant's ex-
amination and she had to decide
whether to take that promotion or
remain D.A.R.E. officer.
She is comfortable with her de-
cision, and she has definite plans
about improving the program in
Kings Mountain's five elementary
schools. Her plans include working
with other DARE programs in the
Cleveland County and Shelby
School Systems and also introduc-
ing some fresh and exciting learn-
ing methods for the children.
"Lisa is a fine officer," said
Kings Mountain Police Chief Bob
comes into the station and is com-
pressed and transported through an
interstate pipe line to customers
along the east coast. When the sta-
tion shut down, the natural gas was
vented out of the station. Since it is
lighter than air it dissipated quick-
ly. As I understand it, it vented for
about 20 to 25 minutes."
Hale said customers manually
shut off the flow of gas, stopping
the flow of gas into the station.
Residents of the area were awak-
ened by Transco employees shortly
afterward and told to evacuate, and
most of them returned to their
homes within hours.
Sunday's lightning which struck
one of Duke Power's lines near the
Highway 74 bypass caused power
to go off at the KM Water Plant
and Pilot Creek Wastewater
Treatment Plant. In the case of
Pilot Creek, an emergency genera-
tor kicked on and services went on
as usual.
"We had some lights out, but the
emergency generator ran for sever-
al hours and took care of the equip-
ment that operates the treatment
plant," said plant employee Kim
Moss. "There were nq problems."
At the nearby T.J. Ellison Water
Plant, the lightning strike caused
an interruption of power to a boost-
er pump station and water couldn't
be pumped to town. Service never
stopped but chief operator Junior
Henson said the city's largest water
user, Spectrum, experienced low
water pressure.
"But they were able to keep run-
ning," he said. "Things could have
been a lot worse."
officer Capps
LISA CAPPS
Hayes, "and I believe she will be
an asset to the D.A.R.E. program.
She is an individual that has what it
takes to respond to children. She is
just a real nice person as well as a
good police officer."
Capps is a four-year veteran of
KMPD. She is a graduate of Crest
High School and graduated #1 in
her class in the Basic Law
Enforcement Training Exam at
See Capps, 3-A
WO A A Rn A pa