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ouncil may abolish Moss Lake Commission
Some say it would be mistake,
others say it would be good move
There is apparently mixed reaction to a pro-
posal on the agenda for City Council's Tuesday's
7:30 p.m. meeting to abolish the Moss Lake
Commission.
John Henry Moss, former mayor who estab-
lished Moss Lake Authority in 1967, Jim Childers,
a former councilman, and Murray Pruette, a for-
mer councilman and current member and former
chairman who was first appointed by Moss in
1973, say they feel Council is making a mistake if
it votes following the hearing to abolish the sev-
en-member board.
But Commission member Gary Joy says he
agrees with the proposal to abolish the commis-
sion unless some changes are made. He says the
Commission has no real authority and the city is
losing money by not using the lake to its fullest
potential.
Costner's Midpines home
as beautiful as McAdenville
You don't have to drive any
further than the Midpines
Community to see and get in
the holiday spirit.
Grady Costner's house and
yard are ablaze with lights and
glitter this holiday season. The
Kings Mountain man has added
more merry go rounds and
horses and carriages that will
delight people of all ages. There
is nothing in his front yard and
back yard nor on his house that
isn't glowing in the colors of the
season.
And if you want to see more
glitter, just drive downtown in
Kings Mountain and view the
gold sparkle on all the trees that
line the main streets of town.
Tree lighting
held at library
The jolly ole man from the
North Pole arrived in a bucket
truck and was lifted to the top
of the community Christmas
_tree Monday night and official-
ly turned on the lights to open
“the Christmas season in Kings
Mountain.
Santa Claus stole the show at
the community-wide tree light-
ing at Mauney “Memorial
Library. Police estimated
crowds at between 250-300 peo-
ple.
Before the unusual appear-
ance - Santa usually arrives on a
sleigh pulled by reindeer - chil-
dren from Trinity Day School
sang Christmas’ carols and
Mayor Scott Neisler read the
Christmas Story from St. Luke.
Santa's lap was full of chil-
dren for about an hour after the
holiday gathering as they gave
him their Christmas wish list.
Rev. Doug Peterson, pastor of
Boyce Memorial ARP Church, a
new board member, assisted by
a member of his congregation
and youth volunteers Donta
Adams, Abby’ Kates and
Danielle Miller, served refresh-
ments.
Pauline Mill gutted by fire [
Pauline Mill, one of the city's
oldest mills which dates to 1916
and abandoned for about 20
years, was gutted by fire Friday
night and city firemen and the
county fire marshal say the fire
was set.
City police, the city fire de-
partment and county fire mar-
shal Beau Lovelace are investi-
gating the blaze which required
nearly one million gallons of
water to control.
Fire Chief Frank Burns said
the call came into the local de-
partment at 9:38 p.m. Friday
and when firemen arrived on
the scene fire was raging inside
the east end of the mill on
Walker Street.
"The building is in such bad
shape that we made an outside
defensive attack so we would
not put people at risk for in-
jury,” said the chief. He said no
one was injured and there was
no danger of the fire spreading
to nearby houses.
Oak Grove and Bethlehem
Christmas Town USA is not
far up Interstate 85 north. Take
the Lowell exit, No. 22, to view
the McAdenville lights that
were turned on December 1 and
remain on Monday through
Friday from 5-9:30 p.m. and
Saturday and Sunday from 5-11
p-m. Last year 336,272 vehicles
wound their way through the
streets of this nearby Gaston
County town.
There are numerous other
holiday events underway in
this area.
The = Kings Mountain
Christmas parade is Sunday af-
ternoon at 3:30 p.m. and Santa
See Sights, 10-A
"The city should be collecting a half million
dollars a year from that lake operation but we
continue to shift the responsibility from depart-
ment to department and commission members
are afraid they will hurt someone's feelings by
not upping fees and looking at more strict rules,"
said Joy who is a new member of the board.
Moss, Childers and Pruette think Council
should reestablish the Moss Lake Authority
which was formed by the Moss Administration
with guidelines from state agencies with the in-
ception of city owned Moss Lake, Kings
Mountain's water supply.
were transferred to the general operating account
of the city and it became an advisory board with
no power answering to City Council. City
Council can amend the current ordinance to abol-
ish the current commission and change the struc-
‘ture of how the lake operates.
But Planning Director Steve Killian said the city
staff has an eye to treating the Moss Lake area as
a capital improvement owned by the city and
functioning as a department.
The Lake Authority became the Lake
Commission by local ordinance when Council
stripped it of its authority in 1982 and its funds
SIGHTS OF SEASON - The home of Mr. and Mrs. Grady Costner in the Midpines Community ‘on
Margrace Road is ablaze with all the glitter of the holiday season. The addition of more handmade
Christmas decorations make the home a must see this Christmas season. The decoratios rival any you
may see in more far-distirit places.
LISTEN UP SANTA - Trey Edgerton and Erin Moore give Santa
their wish list for Christmas during the jolly ole man's visit to
Mauney Memorial Library Monday night as 250 people officially
opened the Christmas season as lights were turned on the com-
munity Christmas tree.
Volunteer firemen helped fight
the fire and Shelby firemen do-
nated an elevated fire stream
because local firemen couldn't
get on top of the building, said
Burns.
Old looms and machinery
owned by Johnny Bunch and
Bunch Inc. were stored inside
the building. Burns said neither
the building or its contents
were insured.
Firemen were on the scene 18
hours. For safety reasons they
had to wait until daylight
Saturday to tear off part of the
old roof and put out the re-
maining hot spots. Because of
the chance of debris falling fire-
men pushed down the wall
next to the street.
Monday city police and fire
investigators were interviewing
neighbors who live across the
street from the mill.
Captain Richard Reynolds
said there are no suspects and
encourages anyone who may
See Mill, 10-A
Jim Crawley elected chairman’
iy
of Cleveland County Commission
Jim Crawley, retired manager
at Kings Mountain's PMDC
plant, was elected chairman of
the county board of commis-
sioners Monday night by vote
of 4-3 after three new commis-
sioners, Ray Thomas, Willie.
Mcintosh and Joe Cabaniss,
took the oath of office.
Cabaniss was elected vice-
chairman.
Before the elections got un-
derway County Manager Lane
Alexander said he had asked
advice from the Institute of
Government at Chapel Hill
which suggested that a majority
of four votes would be required
to elect the chairman and vice-
chairman of the seven member
board.
McIntosh nominated Ralph
Gilbert for the office of chair-
man and Bobby Malloy nomi-
nated Crawley. Crawley took
the chairman's position with
four votes. McIntosh voted for
his nominee and Gilbert voted
- for himself.
Gilbert, Cabaniss and Malloy
were nominated for the position
of vice chairman with Gilbert
receiving three votes, Cabaniss
two and Malloy two.
In a second round of nomina-
tions, McIntosh nominated
Gilbert and Thomas nominated
Cabaniss with Cabaniss receiv-
ing the necessary four votes.
"I never heard of a voting
method that required four
votes,''said Gilbert after the
meeting. Mary Accor agreed,
saying that General Statutes
-153A-39 does not stipulate the
number of votes needed to elect
either officer.
The three outgoing members
on the board, Chairman Cecil
Dickson, E. T. Vanhoy and Sam
Gold, cited accomplishments
during their terms together, in-
cluding improved relations be-
tween rescue squads and other
emergency personnel, placing
an EMS unit in Waco, purchas-
ing land for the Broad River
project, appointment of a land
use board, increased funding
for the sheriff's department and
the three school districts, con-
tracting with the county's waste
haulers, improvements on
county buildings and restora-
tion of the merit raise system
for county employees.
FIRE GUTS MILL - The photograph above shows the walls still standing in the fire-gutted
Pauline Mill which law enforcement officers say was the work of arsonists Friday night. The wall
close to the street has since been pushed down by firemen to avoid injuries from debris falling
from the structure.
See Lake, 10-A
Christmas
parade
Saturday
High stepping bands, pretty
girls and Santa Claus will fea-
ture Kings Mountain's 133-unit
Christmas parade Saturday at
3:30 p.m.
The parade route will be the
same as last year, turning right
at Fred Kiser's Restaurant and
proceeding through the main
section of town on Battleground
Avenue, turning right at West
King Street at the overhead
bridge and then left at
Kentucky Fried Chicken on East
King Street and disbanding in
the Community Center parking
lots:
Parade participants will line
up on 161- York Road and East
Gold Street'in the area of Kings
Mountain City Hall.
"We're ready to roll and are
expecting sunny weather and
temperatures of 58 degrees,"
says city recreation director
Tripp Hord for the sponsoring
Parks and Recreation
Commission. Ni
Kings Mountain's Tony
Cloninger, bullpen coach for the
world champion New York
Yankees, will be grand marshal.
In addition to the Kings
Mountain High School Band,
the Crest High School Air Force
Junior ROTC color guard, the
Livingstone College Marching
Horn, the Cherryville Police
Cadet Drill : Team. ' the
Greenville CC Youth Marching
Band, the Rockwell Park
Steppers and the Piedmont
Pistons will be featured units.
The Telephone Pioneer
Clowns, Rogers Pontiac
Cadillac Buick's blimp, Smokey
the Bear, and numerous floats
and beauty queens will be fea-
tured.
"We have a really good pa-
rade and more participation
from the Greater Kings
Mountain area," said Hord.
The parade lineup includes:
Kings Mountain Police Chief
Bob Hayes, Kings Mountain
Police D.A.R.E car, Kings
Mountain High School
Resource Officer, Kings
Mountain Fire Chief Frank
Burns, Cleveland County
Sheriff Dan Crawford, NC
Highway Patrol, Crest High
School Air Force Junior ROTC
Color Guard, Kings Mountain
Christmas Parade Banner,
Grand Marshal Tony Cloninger,
Livingstone College Marching
Horn, Congresswoman Sue
Myrick, Kings Mountain Mayor
Scott Neisler, City Council
members Phil Hager, Jerry
Mullinax, Ralph Grindstaff,
Jerry White, Rick Murphrey,
Norma Bridges and Dean
Spears, Kings Mountain Fire
Truck, Kings Mountain Antique
Fire Truck, Kings Mountain
Antique Fire Truck and Smokey
the Bear, Gaston Gazette float,
Dance Reflections., Float I
Dance Reflections and No. 24
sponsored by Dance Reflections
and Town and Country BBQ.
Also: Kings Mountain Varsity
cheerleaders, Kings Mountain
Marching Band, Maegan
See Parade, 10-A