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Richmond triplets
By ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
The triplets born to Oak Grove resident
Joyce Wellmon’s only daughter Beth Rich-
mond, 32, were in the words of both mother
and grandmother, “gifts from God.”
Elizabeth Richmond, now of Conway, SC,
was told by doctors she could no longer con-
ceive. In 1994 she battled breast cancer and
underwent chemotherapy and radiation treat-
ment which doctors said would probably ren-
der her infertile.
And while she can trace twins back on her
side of the family, she believes her triplets born
April 15 had less to do with heredity and more
to do with divinity.
Daniel Lee Labonte, the 25-year-old father
of three newborns, went numb when Eliza-
beth told him four months into her pregnancy.
“It was shocking at first to all of us,” said
the proud grandmother. “For a week Danny
didn’t say much and I still find it hard to be-
lieve.”
girl.”
Mrs. Wellmon was in the hospital when the
three bundles of joy were born.
The three ribbons on the door of Conway
Hospital read “It’s a boy.” “It’s a boy.” “It’s a
Mom, resting in her hospital bed, had given
birth to 17 pounds worth of triplets, all healthy,
and labeled Baby A, B and C.
Joshua Garland, named after his step-
A TRIPLE MIRACLE
KM woman told she couldn't have more children has triplets
grandfather, weighed 5 pounds, three ounces.
Daniel Lee Labonte III, named after his dad,
arrived first and weighed in at 5 pounds, 7
ounces. But the biggest surprise of all was
Victoria Diane, named after Daniel’s mother,
who came into the world weighing 6 pounds,
14 1/2 ounces.
The blue-eyed brunettes are still being
gushed over by their admiring family because
the babies made six. Elizabeth has three other
children at home - Jessica, 15; Kimberly, 11;
and Gabriel Richmond, 6, who are adjusting
well to helping bathe and give 40 four-ounce
bottles a day to three babies.
See Triplets, 6-A
Trash lines
Some garbage
has piled up
for eight days
Ward IT Councilman Jerry
Mullinax wants the city to start
picking up garbage.
He said Tuesday that his
telephone is ringing off the
hook from citizens complaining
about garbage piled up in the
streets and overflowing trash
cans.
~ Mullinax was not alone in
calling the Public Works
Department. Residents in
‘and Craftspun Mill area
lings Mot id their trash
had not been picked up in eight
days. an
"I know we have had a cou-
ple of trucks out of action but I
question the discontinuing of
service from twice a week to
once a week and wonder if it's
all geared to changing to priva-
tization that some members of
Council favor," he said.
Mullinax wanted to table the
awarding of the contract to
Cleveland Container for privati-
zation at the recent Council
meeting, calling for a public
hearing for citizens to have
their say on the matter.
. Councilwoman Norma
Bridges asked that the matter be
reviewed before the board took
action but at the recent Sunday
budget session the board ap-
proved privatization and took
See Trash, 6-A
City's bi
The city's bidding proce-
dures came under fire recently
on bids for Kings Mountain's
proposed 10-year privatization
contract for garbage/recycling
but City Attorney Mickey Corry
said staying with the original
bid award to Cleveland
Container Corporation was ap-
propriate.
Corry made his recommenda-
tion in a letter to City Council
Tuesday and following discus-
sions with Supt. of Public
Stowe Acres, the Linwood Road
Trash piles up on Kings Mountain streets
procedures questioned
Works Karl Moss, interim City
Manager Gary Hicks and three
bidders for the city's first
garbage privatization contract.
Corry said, however, that
City Council can rescind the bid
and rebid the garbage contract
and/or seek to privately negoti-
ate the contract since it is one
for service.
Corry said the city is not re-
quired by law to use the formal
bid process for a contract to
provide services.
Linda Ashendorf, represent-
ing Browning-Ferris Industries
of South Atlantic, Inc. said that
BFI protests the award of a con-
tract to another bidder under
the Request for Proposal issued
by the City of Kings Mountain
for solid waste and recyclables.
Ashendorf claimed this week
' that irregularities exist in the
city's bidding process and
called for Council to terminate
what she called an improperly
awarded contract to Cleveland
Steve and Sondra Wilson are
Mr. and Mrs., a team at home
and on the Kings Mountain
Rescue Squad.
Mrs. Wilson actually got her
husband hooked on the Rescue
Squad. She wanted to get into
the medical field and a friend
suggested she train with the
Rescue Squad and then make a
decision on a career goal.
"I joined the all-volunteer
Squad three years ago, took my
training as an Emergency
Medical Technician and my
husband was in the background
giving me the moral support I
needed to respond to a call at
an
all hours of the day or night,"
she said.
Mr. Wilson takes up the story.
"Fourteen months ago I
caught Sondra's spirit of volun-
teering and I decided the
Rescue Squad was the way to
give something back to the
community I love," said Steve.
He took his training and is also
Emergency Medical
Technician. Both maintain 120
hours of in-service classes to
keep their certification as do all
other members of the squad.
Having two young children
at home, the couple still find
See Wilsons, 6-A
STEVE AND SONDRA WILSON
Container and award it to Bri
as the lowest responsive bidder
or reissue the specs and ask for
a new bid. Her letter from BFI
pointed to what she called "am-
biguities in the bid specifica-
tions" and was sent to the full
City Council, Mayor Scott
Neisler and the city attorney.
" Karl Moss offered us an al-
ternative to the Cleveland
County Landfill for garbage
See Bid, 6-A
streets of KJ City may award bid
on peak shaving plant
City Council may reaward
the construction bid to
McDaniel Construction of
Gaffney, SC Tuesday night for a
$2 million North Gaston Street
plant to peak shave electricity.
The board first awarded the
‘bid April 30, rescinded the bid
June 2 on advice of the city at-
torney, and now is apparently
ready to give the formal go-
ahead to the original contractor.
"It's a go," said City Manager
Gary Hicks Tuesday.
Council is also expected to
reaward the financing for the
project to BB&T which it had
awarded for the finance portion
of the project May 28, then re-
sinded the bid after a rejection
of the finance portion by the
State of NC Local Government
Commission. Last week during
a ‘special meeting Council vot-
ed to start the bid procedures
all over again.
The engineering bid was
awarded June 9 to Progressive
Engineering, the original low
bidder.
Utilities Director Jimmy
Maney said that once the con-
struction contracts are signed
that the construction could be-
gin as early as two weeks from
NOW.
The project, originally target-
ed to begin weeks ago, has been
up in the air for several weeks
while lawyers looked at legal
interpretations of a bid pack-
age which was turned down by
the LGC.
In a letter to City Manager
Gary Hicks, Mayor Scott
Neisler and the seven members
of City Council, City Attorney
Mickey Corry wrote:
"The bid approved by you
and directed to be awarded to
McDaniel Construction in April
1996 did include not only the
construction portion of the pro-
ject but also the financing as
would be provided by the con-
tractor.
"Upon my contact with
the Institute of Government I
was informed that financing
and construction may be a part
of one bid package but that it is
not the better way or practice in
this process. You were then in-
See Plant, 6-A
INSIDE AT A GLANCE
well ia
Corry: City
iS reviewing
‘after fact’
City Attorney Mickey Corry
reiterated this week that he
plans to take a much more ac-
tive role in the City of Kings
Mountain bidding process.
In a letter to the full Council,
Corry said he saw no need to
lay blame for the recent snafu in
which Council awarded bids,
then rescinded them.
But he sai
the $2 million peak generation
plant and the garbage privatiza-
tion project have been consid-
ered.
"The unfortunate thing is that
we are reviewing these matters
after the fact," he wrote the
board.
Corry said Council should
take the opportunity now to
finely tune the bidding process-
es.
The attorney recommended:
That someone on the city staff
be schooled and educated thor-
oughly in the bidding process
and the awarding of contracts.
He or she would be the person
involved in the minute details.
Consistency, he said, would
simplify a very complicated
matter. Corry said he intends to
develop a very detailed check
list for this process in the future.
Never undertake the process
in a hurried manner. He said
that prices change and the abili-
ty to attract vendors and cus-
tomers quickly changes but at-
tempting to hurry the process
can also bring about the diffi-
culties the city has recently en-
countered. Corry reminded that
the two contracts recently vot-
ed by Council are long term
contracts and involve the ex-
penditure of substantial sums of
public funds.
Review the possibilities of
private negotiations if it is a ser-
vice contract, and if in fact, re-
sults in the best deal for the city.
See Corry, 6-A
RT 4
Church News........3-A
Classifieds............. 8-9
Editorials.............. 4-A
Education.............4-A
Obituaries............2-A
Police News..........5-A
Sports.......c..c..... 8-A
Women’s News...1-3B
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