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By ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
and become a pediatrician.
Douangchit Mounghane, 21, a Laotian-American
from Kings Mountain, is realizing the American Dream
“I'm so excited,” says Douan, who left for Jamaica
Tuesday to volunteer for the Peace Corps as a commu,
nity environmental health advisor. After two years she
hopes to pursue her life-long dream to study medicine
AMERICAN DREAM
Douan Mounghane escaped from Laos as child,
volunteers for Peace Corps to help other people
separated from her mother and later reunited at
gee camp. Fires devoured their straw huts in camp af-
ter camp and they lived on a pig farm until they came
to America in December 1980 and found snow and a
‘new culture for the first time in a new land.
Douan. :
“The snow symbolized an end to our former lives and
a breathtaking new beginning in a foreign land,” said
a refu-
County puts off
industrial park,
calls for study
Led by arguments by County Commissioner Ralph
Gilbert and Shelby Mayor Mike Philbeck, Cleveland
County commissioners Tuesday night unanimously
put on hold a decision on a taxpayer-financed indus-
trial park.
Gilbert called a decision now by commissioners on
a site for a proposed park premature. He said a deci-
sion would lock-in the county on a multi-million dol-
Douan said her parents risked their lives to bring their
only child to America and to give her an education.
“They expected me to excel and not to permit any di-
Flashbacks of Laos are faint memories to Douan, who
escaped to America when she was five years old and
lar land deal that had not been fully researched.
After a two-hour discussion of the project which was
ents, Chantay and DiDi from Illinois. -
moved to Kings Mountain 10 years ago with her par:
Although flashbacks of her native land are hard to
distinguish from dreams and reality at times, Douar
crossed the Mekong River in a canoe after she fell out af
the canoe and was scooped up by her father. They were
completed her college studies in December 1995
See Mounghane, 2-A
versions from my studies,” said Douan who said she
picked up the English language at an amazing pace and
1/2 years. She was an undergraduate research assistant
after 3
DOUANGCHIT MOUNGHANE
Potholes irk Kings Mountain Councilman
Public Works Supt. Karl Moss and City Attorney
Mickey Corry will meet Friday to review bids for
paving of streets in the wake of complaints by at
least one city commissioner pushing for an aggres-
sive street paving plan.
Meantime, Moss said street crews are patching
potholes in several areas of the city and are repair-
ing a utility cut in front of Carolina State Bank on
East Gold Street.
“We are running three men short in the street de-
partment but we have been busy the past week re-
pairing utility cuts and are ready to start paving as
soon as the contracts are reviewed and signed by
the city and Asphalt Paving,” said Moss.
Ward III Councilman Ralph Grindstaff said he
spent his vacation week riding the streets and check-
ing for potholes and other needed repairs he sees as
the city’s two major priorities.
The other priority Grindstaff plans to push at the
"I feel betrayed by
supervisors..."
-Councilman Ralph Grindstaff
July 30 Council meeting is the building of a new
police station and soon. He says he will recommend
to Council that money be set aside to start the build-
ir\g process.
“That old police building should have been closed
years ago,” said Grindstaff. He said the city is look-
ing at receiving a big check as the result of a power
settlement and he wants that money earmarked for
the police station
Grindstaff put his complaints about the streets in
a formal memorandum to City Manager Gary Hicks
July 2, with copies to the full Council and Mayor Scott
Neisler. Grindstaff says the city may have to repair at
least one 18-months-old sub-division.
“1 feel betrayed by supervisors who tell me that
everything's up to snuff on these kind of projects and
then I measure sections of a street and see asphalt
deteriorating to a condition that water now is between
the asphalt and the bonding,” said Grindstaff.
Hicks acknowledged receipt of Grindstaff’s letter
and said he is doing some checking himself.
“It’s apparent that the city will have to fix what
already should have been fixed,” said Grindstaff in
his memorandum
“It is this type of operation in the city that contin-
ues to plague the city and continues to drain our fi-
nancial resources.”
not listed on the regular agenda, the board on motion
by Commissioner Jim Crawley and seconded by Gil-
bert authorized a study of all available industrial prop-
erty in the county by the Cleveland County Economic
Development Commission. The vote did not stipu-
late how much the study would cost or how long it
would take. ;
“But it will take more than 45 days and that will give
some time to research this matter further,” said Gil-
bert who said time was running out on an unnamed
source's option on the M. L. Plonk Estate property near
Kings Mountain.
“If somebody's putting the screws to you you ought
to know who's doing it,” said Gilbert, obviously refer-
ring to the option taken on the 260 acres near Reliance
Electric as the proposed site for the park which report-
edly had a sale price of $5,000 per acre.
Gilbert said a final decision on the park should not
be made before December when three new commis-
sioners will be sworn.
“Let's not let the commissioners who have been de-
feated or didn’t seek reelection make a decision on
something important as this,” Gilbert said during a
debate which was attended by a large crowd, none of
whom disputed the need for an industrial park but
some said private investors - not government - should
finance it and some said more study should be given
to the location.
“Government should not do what the private sector
$18.7 million interim budget
adopted by KM School Board
A $18.7 million interim budget
for 1996-97 was adopted by the
Kings Mountain Board of Educa-
tion Monday night. Finance
Officer Terri Haas said that until
the North Carolina legislature acts
the budget won't project any ad-
ditional teacher allotments. By Oc-
tober 15 the board, under law,
must adopt a 1996-97 budget reso-
lution, Haas said.
The budget includes $11.4 mil-
lion from the State Public School
Fund; $663,897 from Federal
Grants Fund; $4 million from the
Local Current Expense Fund and
$281,551 from the Capital Outlay
Fund recently approved by the
Cleveland County Board of Com
missioners; $1.4 million from the
Child Nutrition Fund; and
$884,244 from the Head Start Pro-
gram Fund.
The budget amendments ap-
proved Monday night increase
the total operating expenditures
$751,580, including $145,092 for
five classroom teaching positions;
$137,490 for technology funds;
$112,241 for Central Office admin-
istration; $27,480 for staff devel-
opment; $28,138 for Vocational
program support; $94,914 for
three positions for instructional
support; and $18,955 for transpor-
tation.
Haas said that the adjustments
were made because not all fund-
ing information was available
when the initial state allotments
were released. She aid others are
made as the funds become avail-
able from other sources, such as
federal funds that flow through
the State Departnient of Public
Instruction.
Other adjustmerits to the State
Public School Fund, she said, were
to adjust the dollar amounts avail-
able to cover position allotments.
Positions such as teachers are bud-
geted by the state at an average
salary. The level of experience and
the type of certificate held deter-
mines salary. The state matches
salaries with benefits, social secu-
rity, retirement ard hospitaliza-
tion but does not budget for, but
funds, annual leave, longevity
and disability. The revenues for
local current expenses in the in-
terim budget increased $1,074,396
and the amendments reflected
new sources of in¢ome including
$380,340, Smart Start; $22,899, for-
eign language grant; $15,251 sum-
mer school tuition; and $57,066,
JTPA.
Other revenue sources which
exceeded originally estimated
projections inclucled after school
care and summer day camp,
$179,543; supplemental tax,
$102,433; and furid balance allo-
cation $134,497.
The increase of $113,393 in the
federal grant fund was due to ad-
ditional funding Of existing pro-
page 3-B.
HERE’S EGG IN YOUR FACE - Tandra Ramsey competes in
the egg toss during Thursday’s Independence Day celebration at
the Kings Mountain Parks and Recreation Department. Ramsey
and her teammate, Maury Williams, had the athletic skill and
experience to win the event. More celebration photos are on
See Grindstaff, 4-A
McDaniel Construction Co. of
Gaffney, SC will start moving in
equipment July 22 at the city’s
North Gaston Street Substation to
begin construction of the proposed
$2 million peak generation plant.
Utilities Supt. Jimmy Maney
said the North Carolina Local
Government Commission has ap-
proved the borrowing of money
for the project expected to be com-
pleted in November.
All that remains now before a
ground-breaking is for the con-
tracts to be signed and accounts set
up for the funds to be distributed
as the project progresses.
“We're looking at a 4500 KW
peak generation facility but the
plant could be updated to 6000
KW pending Duke Power
Company’s settlement with the
city of an existing 206 complaint,”
Maney said this week.
Maney said the city is tenta-
tively scheduled to move to a
"pure coincident” peak billing rate
August 1 which would mean a
shorter payback period for the
new facility.
He said Duke Power, the city’s
supplier of wholesale electricity,
measures its highest peak during
a 60-minute interval when the
load is greatest during the month.
At that particular time, Maney ex-
plained, Duke would send a load
signal and the city would receive
it through a modem and operate
the peak generation facility during
‘that peak period.
Kings Mountain People
TIM ADAMS
A plant accident got Lt. Tim
Adams, 27, hooked on the Kings
Mountain Rescue Squad.
Adams, a squad member for
four years, was working at An-
vil Knitwear in Kings Mountain
when a hyster fell on his foot and
crushed it. The Kings Mountain
Rescue Squad was; called and in
Tim's words “they did a good job
taking care of me.”
While he was out of action for
about six weeks he became
friends with his rescuer, Curtis
Sims, and it wasn’t long until
Adams decided to join the
squad. He is a certified diver for
the Rescue Squad and also an
Emergency Medical Technician.
The first call for help he re-
ceived was to a domestic inci-
dent where a man was shot in the
face and partially blinded. After
that the life and death-situation
calls were numerous, including
drownings, wrecks and heart at-
tack victims.
Adams says his experience
with lifesaving prepares him for
his new job after completion of
11 weeks of police rookie school
at Cleveland Community Col-
lege. Currently a dispatcher at
the Kings Mountain Police De-
partment, he is looking forward
to patrolling on foot or in a po-
Accident inspired Adams to help others
lice car.
“I started thinking about a ca-
reer in law enforcement when I
was in elementary school be-
cause I had friends I admired,”
said Adams, referring to former
KMPD officer Jimmy West who
is now with the Gastonia Police
Department.
Adams said he and West's
brother were pals and the whole
family became close.
Caring for people runs in the
family. Adams is married to reg-
istered nurse, Kimberly Queen
Adams of Gaston Women’s
See Adams, 4A
See Park, 3-A
Construction to start July 22
on KM Peak Generation plant
“This procedure would reduce
the peak of generation (whether
4500 or 6000) multiplied times the
current $10.19 per KW charge mi-
nus any operation and mainte-
nance expense,” he said.
More savings would be gener-
ated because the cost of operation
would remain constant, said
Maney.
Maney said the city has taken an
aggressive and innovative ap-
proach to stay competitive in a
deregulated electrical market. He
commended City Council, the
mayor and administrative staff for
looking at similar power genera-
tion plants in Concord, Gaffney,
Winston-Salem and Rock Hill and
taking an option that many cities
cannot because they are locked
into power contracts and can use
generation only in emergencies.
“It’s only a matter of time with
deregulation and retail wheeling
until retail customers can switch
to power suppliers whether that
supplier has the lines in place or
not and we have to be ready,” said
Maney. :
The city submitted a 14-page
application plus financing con-
tracts, audited information and
feasibility and engineering studies
to the LGC for review.
The peak generation project has
been on the drawing board for sev-
eral years but it is the first major
project Kings Mountain Council
has undertaken since the 1989
bond issue.