Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Sept. 12, 1996, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
ye ep ye AT AR TH ay Member North Carolina Press Association Vol. 108 No. 36 A a EB | pA - - Meeting Thursday at 3 p.m. d Grover Library . (il , # ¢f € W Vika % & i | [rs WN { qr | Thursday, September 12, 1996 Billy Bridges, 5, is probably the most excited new kinder- garten student at No. 3 Elementary School. The miracle boy who has fought a life-threatening illness all his life is now going to school with the help of his teacher Crystal Bryant who vis- its his home for an hour every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Billy is learning his letters and to color and takes a break now and then to play with his 14-year-old black poodle, Precious, and his English bull- dog, Snuggles. "Billy tires very easily but we are proud of him," said his par- ents, Butch and Helen Barnette. Mrs. Barnette, a nurse at Kings Mountain Hospital, said Billy can't attend regular classrooms ‘Miracle boy’ Billy Bridges excited about starting school because he is so susceptible to germs. "We still go back and forth to Carolinas Medical Center but life has taken on a new turn for Billy with school and he talks all the time about what he's learning to do and loves his first teacher and all the nurses," said Mrs. Barnette. "What is orange?" asked the teacher on Monday morning and Billy pointed to the color and to his book on his desk. His attention quickly turned to a camera that was used to take his picture and he asked his mother for one so that he could take some pictures and send them to school. "I guess a camera will have to be on Little Billy's wish list for Santa," said Mrs. Barnette. "Our Billy has beat the odds and we treasure each day," she said. STARTS SCHOOL - Little Billy Bridges likes to color and gets in- struction from his teacher, Crystal Bryant. Squirrel causes fire that knocks out power A squirrel in a transformer on West King Street set off a fire in a 3/4 inch gas line at 7:55 p.m. Tuesday night that knocked off electricity in one area of King Street: for about three hours. Fire Chief Frank Burns said Kings Mountain firemen quick- ly extinguished the blaze on the street which Burns said was in no danger of spreading to hous- thought the big blaze was com- Parsons no longer employed by city The city is advertising this week for the $42,000 per year position of finance officer which Maxine Parsons of Boiling Springs vacated last Tuesday. Mrs. Parsons, 46, the city's fi- nance officer since 1994, a city employee for seven years and a former interim city manager, re- turned to work last Tuesday af- ter being on medical leave since June. City officials would not say if Mrs. Parsons resigned. or was fired. "The only thing I can tell you is that she no longer works here," said City Manager Jimmy Maney, citing the issue as a personnel matter. Parsons was hired in the fi- nance department at City Hall by former city manager George Wood. She was named interim city manager in spring 1994 by a 4-3 vote of City Council. As interim manager she froze spending and hiring. See Parsons, 10-A The City of Kings Mountain and Duke Power Company inked a four-year contract Thursday that guarantees that the wholesale cost for electricity won't go up for four more years other than fuel adjustment charges. ; "We can guarantee no in- creased costs unless of course es or businesses nearby. No one was injured. Electrical service was not interrupted at the hos- pital. Burns said when the trans- former blew a wire broke loose and the small service line erupt- ed. RR a Motorists along King Street ing from a house on fire and were quickly routed to other streets leading to town. Traffic c lights out on most of King and on S. Battleground Avenue. Kings Mountain police were called from a training class un- derway in an old building be- side of Central United Methodist C hurch to work traf- Burns said that Kings Mountain firemen, assisted by Bethlehem, Grover and Oak Grove volunteer firemen, will hold a practice burn, weather ‘permitting, Saturday at 8 a.m. at the old building owned by Central United Methodist Church on East Mountain : Street. : ld i f 3 Sie at i Postal mail carrier Jeannine Spencer, left, helps newly hired postal trainee, Karen Dearduff, sort out the mail and carry out the day's walking route - going from house to house delivering the mail. KM, Duke Power agree on 4-year electrical contract nothing catastrophic happens,” said City Manager Jimmy Maney. The settlement came after three years of negotiation and will mean about $400,000 that Kings Mountain can apply on a new police department, the re- pairs of Deal Street swimming pool, and the purchase of capi- Garment Specialists opens in KM Garment Specialists cut the ribbon Tuesday morning at a new business location at 201 E. King Street. Dora Ross Bridges, formerly with Plonk Brothers, says she has her sewing machine ready to do custom sewing and alterations in addition to free- lance pattern work for small businesses. Mrs. Bridges has 20 years ex- perience in pattern making and has made her own clothes and clothes for her three children for 40 years. : She said she started sewing as a hobby many years ago and ‘decided to turn the hobby into her own business. She also for- merly worked for eight years in the pattern making industry at KlearKnit in Clover, SC For about a year she assisted in cus- tomer alterations at Plonk's General Store and also contin- ued her free lance pattern mak- ing project. Mayor Scott Neisler cut the ribbon at the grand opening which was attended by local merchants and Mrs. Bridges’ three children, Charles Bridges, David Bridges and Beverly Small and their families. The firm is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m.-5 p-m. and on Saturday from 8:30-noon. RY TI mre ae tal equipment such as a fire truck, bucket truck and line truck. "We plan to continue opera- tions under the current rate structures with anticipation of changing to a coincident peak rate design in the 1997-98 bud- get," said Maney. Duke settled with six of eight cities, two of which were re- viewing other options for pur- chase of power. Maney said at last month's Council meeting an ad hoc committee was named to crank up plans for the new police de- partment which would include the site selection, floor plan, de- See Contract, 2-A GRAND OPENING - Garment Specialists, a new custom sewing and alterations business, opened this week at 201 East King Street. From left, Jim Childers, owner Dora Bridges, Mayor Scott Neisler and Joe Smith cut the ribbon. a Kings Mountain, N.C. » 28086 * 50¢ d ry — KM Guardsmen aid Fran victims National Guardsmen from Kings Mountain and Forest City Co. B 505th Engineers Battalion have been in Raleigh since Thursday assisting hurricane victims. Sgt. George Crosswhite, readiness engineer in charge of the Kings Mountain Command Control, said that 64 people were originally called out by Governor Hunt from this area for state-wide duty. Crosswhite said he appreciat- ed local employers permitting their employees to take time off from their jobs to respond to the missions. Local Guardsmen reported to the staging area at the N. C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh and were dispersed to Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Wilmington, Lillington and other eastern towns in the state. Crosswhite said the Guard and mechanics helped clear roads and fallen trees using chain saws, front end loaders, motor graders, scrapers and generators. He said many citi- zens still remain in the dark and sand is four feet deep in the roads in the Wilmington area. Originally 750 troops from the North Carolina National or 30 people attend meeting Guard were activated by Governor Jim Hunt Thursday and that number was increased to 1,200 as hurricane response efforts continue. National Guard soldiers are providing security, generators and water and helping with de- bris removal in stricken areas. Teams were also flying recon- naissance missions to help with damage assessment. "We will respond to as many requests from the State Emergency Response Team as we can and we will stay as long as emergency management au- thorities need us," said Major General A. Rudisill Jr., the Adjutant General for North Carolina. Units responding to the Hurricane Fran relief efforts in- clude military police, engineer, transportation and aviation units. Air National Guard com- munication and aircraft have al- so been called to duty. Units have been activated from Clyde to Elizabeth City. The Piedmont section of the state, which includes Kings Mountain, escaped the wrath of Hurricane Fran. Luckily the storm did not reach inland as far as Kings Mountain. to discuss industrial park About 30 people turned out for a town meeting Tuesday night at Cleveland Community College to discuss the county's proposed industrial park. Of the group, the majority didn't want to identify them- selves as proponents or oppo- nents of the project which has turned controversial in recent months yet reportedly has the backing of a majority of County Commissioners. The meeting was sponsored by the Cleveland County League of Women Voters with the local chapter of American Association of University Women and the Kings Mountain Woman's Club as co- Sponsors. Only County Commissioners Cecil Dickson and Ralph Gilbert and Robert Williams stated em- phatically which side of the is- sue they represented. Dickson said he supported county financing of the indus- trial park because a county owned park has opportunities not available in a privately held park and a county or city has the ability to recoup its invest- ments through property taxes generated by the new invest- ment. Gilbert and Williams dis- agreed but Williams said it was up to county commissioners, not the Economic Development Commission, to make the deci- sion on selecting the site and spending the money. Dickson said the county has the money on hand to pay for the property. Dickson said no private investors have come forward but a privately held fa- cility's motivation would be based on a return on invest- ment. He said a publicly owned facility would be more competi- tive and a park is needed to bring industry to Cleveland County and create more jobs. When no one volunteered to speak officially against the is- sue Gilbert asked for the same amount of time given to Dickson. ~ "This is the wrong way to go," said Gilbert. He said some- one from the county should fol- low the example of Salisbury and go to Germany and entice a large German industry to come: to Cleveland and then build a park. = "We're getting ready to have & deal pulled on us," he said. = Ed Peeler said he owned an: industrial park about two miles from the college with 31 more: acres available for industry: with gas, water, electricity and sewer. "The EDC hasn't helped us in two years and we've been here three years and still don't have our investment back." Williams said he was not against progress and was for jobs and industry but he argued that the county's spending money for land did not relate to industry and asked to read into the minutes of the meeting a law enacted by the North Carolina Supreme Court March 8, 1996. Time was called on Williams but he said he was sorry to hear that people against the issue felt coerced and could not express their opinions at the public meeting. Jim Patterson of Taylor Road in Shelby asked if the county commissioners were legally au- thorized to use taxpayer money to buy land and Dickson said the board had taken the proper legal steps. After the meeting Ruby Alexander of Kings Mountain, Republican candidate for coun- ty commissioner, said she is in favor of a county owned indus- trial park. She said that the pri- vate sector has not stepped for- ward to create an industrial park for Cleveland County and citizens should be aware of alarming statistics that 25 per- cent of the workforce of 42,546 employed residents commute out of Cleveland County. "By owning a park and part- nering with the private sector on a shell facility we could in- crease the visits of clients look- ing at our area and provide more jobs at home," she said. A second town meeting is scheduled Thursday at 7 p.m. at Brackett's Cedar Park in Polkville. Jim Crawley, vice- chairman of the county board of commissioners, will speak on behalf of the project. The identi- fy of the opposing speaker has not been announced. SSR 5.3 nr
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 12, 1996, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75