Member
North Carolina Press Association
Vol. 108 No. 8
Council
to receive
gas update
Utilities Supt. Jimmy Maney
will give an update on how the city
will pay for a major gas expansion
in South Kings Mountain Tuesday
and report on a door-to-door can-
vass of prospective customers.
The city is advertising for bids
for engineering work on the expan-
sion of gas lines to Midpines, Quail
Run and White Plains communi-
ties, Maney reported to. members
of the city utilities committee
Monday night.
"People are calling from the
White Plains area wanting to sign
up for gas and we estimate that 20
percent of the approximately 380-
400 customers in three communi-
ties will sign up immediately," said
Maney.
But Councilman Ralph
Grindstaff said he wants to see the
results of an official canvass of the
communities before the city spends
major bucks for the expansion.
It's the logical thing to do a sur-
vey," said Grindstaff who had
made the request at last month's
City Council meeting when the
board voted unanimously to give
the green light to the project.
Water/Wastewater Supt. Walt
Ollis compared himself to prospec-
tive customers who might say they
didn't want gas until their furnaces
go off. "Some are not about to
change to gas if their present heat-
ing systems are working,"
Ollis.
said
Three-year-old Tanner Deaton, son of Jody and Donna Deaton of
— I
Since 1889
Kings Mountain, N.C. + 28086 * 50¢
Spectrum recycling project
Water-saving technology is a new innovation for the
yam industry and Spectrum Dyed Yarns Inc. is leading
the textile business in the country in probably one of
the largest water reuse and recycling programs.
"We are really big in recycling," says Hubert
Johnson, Spectrum engineer, who said already the
Kings Mountain plant recycles over 70 percent of its
solid waste.
Monday night Johnson and Spectrum's Gary Carter,
mechanical engineer, Chris Key, research and develop-
ment manager and Rick Kilpatrick, safety and environ-
mental affairs manager, met with the city's utilities
committee and showed before and after samples of re-
cycled water from the local plant.
Johnson's news was labeled by Water/Wastewater
Supt. Walt Ollis using a Navy term as " leaving us
dead in the water."
But Ollis said other industries will probably be fol-
lowing Spectrum's lead in moving toward environmen-
tal concerns and recycling for good business reasons.
Eighteen months from now Spectrum expects to in-
stall at its Kings Mountain plant a $2.5 million opera-
tional system that will reduce its water/wastewater vol-
ume by 70 percent.
This means that Spectrum, the city's largest water
customer and also the city's largest natural gas cus-
tomer, will spend $818,604 less with the City of Kings
Mountain for water over a 12 month period. In addi-
tion, the plant will reduce by 1/3 its water treatment
use and reduce to 422,000 gallons per day its flow to
the Pilot Creek Wastewater treatment plant.
In the next couple of months Spectrum plans to in-
stall the new technology at its Belmont plant and in
two or three years will install a similar system at its
Hickory location.
Spectrum is targeting its first water recycling sys-
tema for Belmont because the company's costs for wa-
ter in’ Belmont ‘are higher than Kings Mountain's, said
Johnson.
will decrease need for water
A new innovation for industry is water recycling
and Spectrum Textured Fibers of Kings Mountain
is leading the way. In top photo, the clear recycled
water is shown at far right. Bottom photo shows a
portion of one recycling unit at the local plant.
Kings Mountain, enjoys some time on the sliding board at St.
Matthew's Preschool. With the weather man predicting 70-degree tem-
peratures Thursday and Friday, youngsters will have more opportuni-
ties for fun in the sun.
Councilman Phil Hager, chair-
man of the committee, warned that
the city can't drag its feet on the
and that Kings Mountain has some major decisions to
make on how to recoup the loss. Ollis said he had ob- |
See Spectrum, 10-A
Ollis told five of the seven city councilmen attend-
ing Monday night's utilities meeting that the Spectrum
changes will be reflected in the 1997-98 budget year
project.
"We need to move on Phase I
now and as funds are available to
go on to Phase II," he said. Phase
IT is targeted for gas lines to serve
Bethlehem Estates, Yarbro Road,
and Oak Grove Road.
"We have about 10-12 calls ev-
ery week from residents of the Oak
Grove section asking for gas," said
Maney.
Finance Director Maxine
Parsons said that plans are in place
following a meeting of city offi-
cials with the Local Government
Commission in Raleigh for rev-
enue bonds to pay for gas expan-
sion.
Maney said he foresees little
problem in conducting the door to
door canvass of the Phase I area
prior to Tuesday night's 7:30 p.m.
City Council meeting.
The utilities committee will also
present at Tuesday's council meet-
ing a recommendation to award
the low bid of $2,000 to Moretz
Engineering for a Grace Street wa-
ter line. Developer Hubert Toney
has agreed to pay the 50 percent
share cost per the city's extension
Shelby school board member John Schweppe, Kings Mountain
board chairman Ronnie Hawkins, Shelby board chairman Jack
Hamrick, and Tommy Greene, Cleveland County board chairman,
left to right, are pictured at a joint meeting of the three boards of ed-
ucation Monday night.
policy. Toney said it will probably
be mid-year before construction is
underway.
Maney said a ground bed for ca-
thodic protection may have to be
relocated at the site.
The second engineering bid was
from W. K. Dickson Co., at $5,000.
Would a merger of the three
school systems in the county in-
crease educational opportunities
for the kids?
The 15 members of the Kings
Mountain, Cleveland County and
Shelby Boards of Education agreed
basically Monday night that the
idea is premature at this point with
all the pros and cons yet to be mea-
sured.
The last 15 minutes of a two-
hour joint meeting was given to the
discussion.
"Merger is on the tip of every-
one's tongue but what role do you
see, if any, in non-merger or merg-
er?" asked Tommy Greene, county
Seat belt program implemented
Have you ever seen a child jumping around in the
back seat of a moving vehicle and wished there was
something you could do to be sure the child would be
safe?
Well, now there is an educational program, "Please
Be Seated," that will help.
The Kings Mountain Police Department, in coopera-
tion with Community Traffic Safety Program
Coordinator Kim Lowry of the Cleveland County
Health Department and the Traffic Safety Coalition of
Cleveland County, are distributing postage-paid post-
cards which you can use to record the license plate
number of the North Carolina vehicle you spot carry-
ing an unrestrained child.
After you mail the postcard to the Raleigh office of
the N.C. Department of Environment, Health and
Natural Resources, the vehicle's owner will receive a
friendly letter that acknowledges this observation and
provides some education on the current N. C. laws re-
garding child restraint.
Lowry, who has headed the program since June
through a grant from the Governor's Highway Safety
Program, said she recently heard from a parent who
discovered her babysitter was not buckling up her
child after the parent received a letter
Lowry will be available to give child safety pro-
grams in the area and will forward materials to club
groups and individuals on request
North Carolina is the 19th state in the nation to im-
plement the program which was started in Virginia in
1971. Sixty-seven percent of the people traveling in
Cleveland County are buckling up but this compares
with 81 percent in Charlotte, 79 percent in Hickory
and 94 percent in Winston-Salem.
Chief Hayes reminds that in North Carolina children
under age 12 are required by law to be buckled up any-
where in the car. Children under 4 are required to be
secured in a child safety seat. Also, children under 12
cannot ride in the back of an open bed pickup truck.
Hayes said the leading cause of death and serious
injury to children after age one.in this state is trauma
from motor vehicle crashes.
Hayes said officers will continue to crack down on
violators of the seat belt law.
"Buckle up, save your life and a child's life," he
said.
The three county boards of edu-
cation will probably form a task
force to seek out what is being
done in the area of early child edu-
cation in the county and ways the
school systems can reach children
even before the age of Head Start
and kindergarten. :
The subject was advanced by Dr.
Lee Gilliatt of the Shelby school
board Monday night during a two-
hour discussion of future educa-
tional issues and ways the three
systems can continue cooperative
ventures.
Gilliatt says its vital to reach
children early in life, starting at
birth and not taking over for fami-
lies but offering educational ad-
vice.
Several board members joined in
the discussion, quickly turning it to
the decaying state of family values
board chairman.
Greene prefaced the remarks by
saying that "no one will take the
bull by the horn but does anyone in
this audience have tomatoes to
throw before I pose the question."
Forty percent of the 75 members
of the audience at Cleveland
Community College were associat-
and changing parenting values.
"My pet peeve is the TV, cut it
off," said Ronnie Hawkins, chair-
man of the Kings Mountain board
of education.
"Parents need to know that
sometimes you have to get rid of
the TV and the video games and
get books back in their hands," he
said.
Local board member B. S.
Peeler said he had seen kids come
to school many times unprepared.
"It has to start with the parents,"
he said.
Gilliatt said Head Start is won-
derful for kids at age three and four
but a child's education should start
at birth.
Gilliatt said that since most
Cleveland County babies are born
at the Regional Medical Center in
Shelby that it's easy to identify
ed with the schools in some capaci-
ty. There were several county com-
missioners present as well as
commissioner candidates. There
were some students and parents in
the audience.
Greene said it's essential that
board members study the factual
data first.
Chief of Police Bob Hayes, seated, and Kim Lowry, Community
Traffic Safety Program Coordinator, look over materials that are be-
ing distributed on the importance of drivers wearing seat belts
School Boards hold meeting
them. He said the presence of
books in a newborn nursery is es-
sential.
KM board member ShearraZ
Miller said that the Parent Center:
at Kings Mountain's West School=
offers classes not only in computer:
skills and how to help a child with
his homework but distributes infor==:
mational materials to new mothers
on what to do with a newborn baz
by.
KM Board member Billy Houze
suggested that the three systems
coordinate ideas with family ser-
vices and form a partnership.
"I see a need," he said. Shelby
Supt. Dr. Steve Curtis said there
had been good participation at the
Parent Center at James Love
School and called for more pro-
See Boards, 10-A
School Boards agree merger talk premature at this point
"If we get to the bottom of the
list and we get more yeses than
noes, we ought to merge and merge
quickly," he said.
But he said if there are more
noes, the group should not dwell
on it but settle the merger issue and
See Merger, 10-A
Elected officials
to meet at CCC
A mini retreat for over 100
elected officials from Cleveland
County will be held February 28
from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at Cleveland
Community College.
The program has been planned
by the Cleveland County Chamber
from funding by Cleveland County,
City of Shelby, City of Kings
Mountain ‘and Town of Boiling
Springs municipal governments.
Lyle J. Sumek, a nationglly rec-
ognized trainer, will lead the half
day program. He specializes in
building effective teams and devel-
oping leadership capacity in cities
and counties. Over the past 20
years his company has assisted
hundreds of cities and counti=s na:
tionwide in becoming value driven
organizations which are communi
ty based.