Vol. 107 No. 34
INSIDE
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Thursday, August 24, 1995
minority members.
special meeting of the board.
positive results.
Bethware School Principal Mary Accor, 38, is the
unanimous choice of the Cleveland County Board of
Commissioners for the seventh seat on the board.
It is the first public office for Accor.
She is the county's second woman to serve on the
board which was expanded from five to seven mem-
bers with the recent court-ordered appointments of two
Accor was appointed on motion by the county's first
minority member, Bobby Malloy, Tuesday night at a
"I'm just elated and trying to come down from this
feeling of excitement," said Accor Wednesday.
Accor said she has many concerns that she hopes
the board will address in the months ahead and with
Accor named to County Board
of all seven board members will be up.
"For awhile I plan to just listen to the issues and
vote my convictions and what I feel will be best for the
people of Cleveland County," she said.
Accor said that when she was contacted about serv-
ing on the board that she felt very humble and didn't
hesitate because she wanted to "give something back
to the county where I was born and have lived all my
life.”
She expects to run for election in 1998 when terms
"For several weeks now we have been in discus-
sions with members of the NAACP regarding the ap-
pointment of the next county commissioner," said
Malloy Tuesday.
"First , a committee of commissioners (including
Malloy, Jim Crawley and Chairman Cecil Dickson)
met twice with members of the NAACP and held con-
See Accor, 3-A
Williams to stay on DSS
and fight for proposals
Ignoring the Cleveland County
Board of Commissioners’ recent
action to remove him from the
board of Social Services, Robert
A. Williams of Fallston plans to at-
tend Monday's 4 p.m. meeting at
0" "the County Office Building
Auditorium.
He plans to propose that drug
screening be required of all care-
givers who receive ADFC, food-
stamps or Medicaid with positive
results constituting a substantial
neglect charge requiring a Child
Protective Services review for ap-
propriate action. :
William faxed six pages of this
sti nd other 5 ific
ene
rategic" plan for implementation
* of a child protection policy.
Williams said he plans to call for
the DSS Board to raise $8,000 in
donations from private sources to
assist restoring Lauria Moses' re-
turn to independent living to add to
the contributions he has personally
received for the woman.
He also said that he will make a
motion that the board reschedule
its afternoon meetings to 7 p.m.
meetings on the Monday prior to
the first county commissioner
meeting of each month for benefit
of the general public and that the
chairman of the DSS Board be the
official representative and liaison
of the DSS to the county commis-
sion and any other official func-
tions.
Williams also wants to see the
board schedule an invocation at ev-
ery meeting instead of a moment of
silence currently on the agenda.
Williams is also proposing that
DSS:
Initiate legal actions to terminate
parental rights for all parents con-
victed of felony child abuse, mur-
der or felony drug crimes.
Initiate legal action to collect
medical bills paid by Medicaid as a
result of felony child abuse, mur-
der or felony drug crimes.
Disclose the names of DSS em-
ployees, county employees and im-
mediate family members receiving
DSS benefits/services/ payments,
including Smart Start daycare, to
the DSS board and county com-
missioner review.
Adopt a DSS board policy and
strategic plan to protect children
: | ne
“Review and approve all legal
actions brought by or involving
Cleveland County DSS.
Prioritize child support collec-
tions with the lowest being collec-
tions for the state.
Require budget updates and re-
ports at every regularly scheduled
meeting
Adopt a resolution that no ser-
vices, benefits or cash payments be:
provided to support a drug habit
recipient with the board to be noti-
fied upon discovery of benefits
converted to drug usage.
Prosecute fraud as required by
law.
Keep current board policies
apart from the minutes.
Call special meetings when a
death involving DSS
services/clients occur or there is se-
rious injury.
Develop and adopt a perfor-
mance review for the director and
plans and goals for each depart-
See Williams, 8-A
Nothing is more fun on a summer day than sliding on a sliding
board and these Grover kindergarten students are obviously enjoying
the third day of school for the fall term. They represent the Class of
2008 of Kings Mountain District Schools.
Pilot Creek not up to standards
The city is working to correct a chlorination problem at Pilot Creek
Waste Treatment Plant, the only area in which it didn't get a clean bill of
health following a state inspection.
"The state's limits are so stringent that we are having trouble meeting
them," said Supt. of Water/Wastewater Walt Ollis who reported the permit
limit violations to members of the utilities committee Monday night.
Ollis said the plant was constructed when the limit was higher but now
the limits are lower - .028 parts per million compared to two parts per mil-
lion or 1/80th of the former limits. : ;
"T doubt very seriously that we are the only municipality with this prob-
lem this week because every plant had its limits lowered," said Ollis who
was notified by Keith Overcash, Regional Supervisor of the Division of
Environmental Management, of the violations in a letter under date of
August 14 and following annual inspection by John Lesley on August 9.
Interim City Manager Gary Hicks responded to the state Wednesday,
saying that the city would follow the recommendations in making the cor-
rections which include automatic sampling controls on the chlorinator. He
estimated that the repairs would be completed by mid-September.
Ollis said that moving the sampling point down line and installing a new
mixer below the sulphur dioxide feed point and a new instrumentation set
up will closely control the process and keep the chlorine in the basin
longer. +
Ollis explained that somehow there is a chemical reaction to the sun
which pulls the chlorine out at both the water plant and wastewater treat-
ment plant. For instance, he said in cold weather it may require 20 pounds
of chlorine compared to 150 pounds in the summer months when the sun
takes most of it away..
The city was cited in violation of monthly average and weekly average
permit limits for fecal coliform and daily maximum effluent limits for mer-
cury and total residual chlorine.
The 6.0 MGD wastewater treatment plant was last inspected on
November 15, 1994.
CCT Mountain, N.C. » 28086
Gas proposal
may be oppose
A proposal on how to satisfy in-
dustry with enough gas in the win-
ter months to operate on full scale
and keep costs down for all 3,000
customers is on the agenda for
Tuesday night's City Council met-
ing at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.
The city utilities commission
passed on the dilemma to city man-
agement Monday night after it
hedged on its decision a week ago
to recommend to Council that the
city buy an additional 1,000 mcf's
and spread the cost out to all 3,000
users of natural gas, saying later
that an extra 500 mcf's would get
customers through the winter.
Retired city planner and mayoral
candidate Gene White and
Councilwoman Norma Bridges
will oppose any proposal by the
city utilities committee to buy ad-
ditional firm natural gas if the ad-
ditional costs are to be borne by
residential users , they said this
week.
White filled out a form with City
Manager Gary Hicks for inclusion
on the Tuesday night agenda.
Both White and Bridges say
city fathers are moving too fast and
should table the gas matter for
more discussion by the city manag-
er, Gas Supt. Jimmy Maney and
31 ns oo
" W
"Jimmy (Maney) is our superin-
tendent of gas for 23 years and
knows more about the gas business
than we do and I feel his input is
needed," said Bridges.
"If we trust him to head up that
department then certainly we
should listen to his recommenda-
tion."
Maney said last week during a
utility meeting with industrial users
that buying an additional 1,000
mcfs per day of firm gas and
spreading the additional annual
cost’ of $100,000 to $132,000 be-
tween the city's 3,000 residential
users of natural gas and industry is
"no way to run a gas business."
"But that decision is up to
Council," he said after the meeting.
Monday night the utilities com-
mittee, with Phil Hager absent and
Dean Spears and Chairman Jim
Guyton present, voted to turn the
decision over to the city manager
and city finance director to consult
with Maney and come up with a
recommendation.
Maney was out-of-town three
days this week on business.
Parsons said that a meeting is
planned with Maney before
Tuesday's meeting.
While the city has not increased
its gas allocations since 1989, it
has increased 600 residential cus-
tomers, said Guyton. He suggested
that the city buy 500 additional
mcf's of firm gas to get by this
winter until after a new rate study
is prepared and to keep the six in-
dustries on interruptible rates from
being cut off when the weather
dips to 32 degrees and below and
there is an insufficient gas supply.
Parsons said the city is commit-
ted under contract to deliver gas to
industry.
Grindstaff wants
KM's money back
"We want our money," said
Councilman Ralph Grindstaff
Monday, expressing his dismay
that the city, which was short on
funds for months, could be in good
shape if:
The federal government forks
out over $1 million soon for the
Dixon School Road water/sewer
line project which runs to the rest
area at I-85 and now is almost
complete.
Fifteen customers on Dixon
School Road will hook on to Kings
Mountain's water supply. The pro-
ject is paid for by federal money
administered by the state to the city
to contractg the work. The contract
states that the contractors will be
paid as soon as the money comes
in.
Settlement of a $300,000 Class
Action suit filed on the city's be-
half several years ago by the
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission and following what
Finance Officer Maxine Parsons
called a historical imbalance with
Transco, the city's natural gas sup-
0 oas d
tion 7 1 O's." a »
Parsons said a settlement offer
was made to give the city credit for
gas several years ago but city
management at the time held out
for a bigger settlement. She said
that numerous customers are in-
volved in the suit but that gas sup-
pliers maintain that some cus-
tomers owe the gas company more
and are not quick to settle.
"This is money that the city paid
when the gas system deregulated
and the city itself has no leverage
to collect it," said Parsons.
"Everything is in limbo."
"They gave our money away and
I want it back," said Grindstaff.
"City water is the only leverage
we have to speed up the federal
funds," said Walt Ollis, the city's
superintendent of water/wastewa-
ter, updating the utility commission
on the Dixon Road/Rest Area wa-
ter-sewer line.
Parsons suggested, and utility
members Jim Guyton and Dean
Spears agreed, that the city should
not turn on water to the new cus-
tomers until the money comes in
from the state.
The concern over settlement of
the two projects surfaced at
Monday night's utility committee
meeting in which a progress report
was given by Ollis.
The committee looked at engi-
neering proposals for the lining of
the No. 3 basin at the Pilot Creek
Wastewater Treatment Plant and
voted to ask a representative of
McGill & Associates of Asheville,
the low bidder, to attend next
Tuesday's city council meeting to
outline the project.
Chairman Jim Guyton said there
is more than a $9,000 difference
See Money, 8-A
KINGS MOUNTAIN PEOPLE
tn
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CAPT. RICHARD REYNOLDS
Family and church are priorities
for Captain Richard Reynolds who
would rank law enforcement also
at the top of his list.
The 27-year veteran of the Kings
Mountain Police Department sees
his new role as Captain and
Commander of the Patrol and
Detective Divisions as a challenge
and an opportunity to get out in the
community more.
He is cxcited about community
policing, something that he has
wanted for the department for
many years and he's excited about
the police department's D. A. R. E.
program with the schools and the
role that the new resource officer
will play in school safety.
On any given day now you can
see Reynolds riding in a police car
with one of the officers or walking
the beat.
"I want to work with the officer
to get his feedback about the prob-
lems on the job and the needs of
the community and with Chief Bob
Hayes' cooperation and his empha-
sis on community involvement we
can do it," he said.
Hayes, who was recently named
Chief of Police, promoted
Reynolds, second in command and
Assistant Chief of the 31-member
staff plus a 10-member reserve
force.
Law enforcement has taken on
mechanization with computers and
more staff since Ptl. Reynolds
joined the force as the 12th mem-
ber in 1969 and also did double
duty as dispatcher.
"We had a tag book and when
we identified tags we had to go
through the whole book and at that
time all auto tags expired on
February 15." he recalled, noting
the onset of computer. training at
the department and the 911 system.
" Then-Chief Tom McDevitt and
Bob Hayes believe in training for
police and in community policing,"
said Reynolds who has the highest
respect for all the officers he has
served with over the years and cur-
rently works with at KMPD. He
has worked for six chiefs. includ-
ing Hayes, and was promoted
through the ranks to Sergeant in
1974 when he went on the
Detective Division and to
Licutenant in the Detective
Division in 1989.
Although he admits that he loves
Reynolds involved in KM community
the investigative side of police
work, Reynolds loves being back
in his familiar uniform instead of
the clothes plainclothes cop attire.
A 1964 graduate of Kings
Mountain High School. he went to
work with the state highway com-
mission for three years. driving a
dump truck in the maintenance de-
partment. He came to KMPD from
the «NN... C. Department’ of
Corrections where he worked as a
prison guard.
He got his rookie training on the
See Revnolds, 3-A