Member
North Carolina Press Association
Vol. 109 No. 04
All-Stateband
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The late Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. was remembered as a
man much like the Apostle Paul
who God used as an instrument
for great things by speakers at a
prayer. breakfast Monday at
Bynum Chapel AME Zion
Church.
Dr. Claude T. Williams,
Central Piedmont Community
College professor and pastor of
Moore's Chapel AME Zion
Church in Lincolnton, said the
world has been waiting for
nearly 30 years for another
King.
"We have an identity crisis in
1997 because we have forgotten
who God is and that God will
work in us to change situa-
tions," he told the large crowd.
Williams said that Americans
Rev. M.L. King
at Monday breakfast in KM
remembered
put pictures.of their fallen lead-
ers on their walls never realiz-
ing they can "turn this nation
around." :
Martin Luther King Jr. would
have been 68 years old January
15 if he had not been assassinat-
ed April 4, 1968. A good stu-
dent, King entered Morehouse
College at the age of 15 and
graduated with honors at 19 in
1948. He graduated first in his
class at Crozer Theological
Seminary in Pennsylvania in
1951 and earned a Ph. D. in the-
ology from Boston University in
1955.
It was as pastor at Dexter
Avenue Baptist Church in
Montgomery, Ala. in 1955 that
he led the year long boycott of
See King, 9-A
TRIBUTE TO KING - Dr. Claude Williams, the speaker for a
prayer breakfast Monday, , led tributes to Civil Rights leader
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Bynum Chapel AME Zion Church.
KM bank
, Brenda N. Lovelace, lending
officer at First Carolina Federal
Savings Bank and a veteran em-
ployee, was this week named
the bank's acting president and
chief executive officer in the ab-
sence of veteran bank president
Gary Whitaker.
Whitaker, 49, of 2008 Eaves
Rd., Shelby, was still critical and
stable in the Neuro Progressive
Unit at Carolinas Medical
Center in Charlotte recovering.
as Chief
y, she makes sure the offi-
cers are outfitted properly.
"Good morning Chief Hayes'
office” is the friendly greeting
that a caller to the Police
Department hears on any given
day of the week.
If the caller is a city officer he
may be looking for a tie or a
shirt and Blanton helps with the
selection.
"I worry about our officers
and I consider all of them my
extended family," she said.
Blanton joined KMPD
August 25, 1977 as secretary to
Chief J. D. Barrett and also
served previously as secretary
to Chief Warren Goforth.
In August she will celebrate
20 years in a profession that she
loves but one in which she has
seen many changes. ;
Marty's first desk was in the
basement of the Police
Department which was in 1977
the home of City Hall. The
Police Department shared quar-
ters with the Codes Office and a
Indiana company
eyes KM property
City officials say an Indiana
company is eyeing property off
Crocker Road to build manufac-
tured homes that could employ
up to 250 people.
City Planning Director Steve
Killian said that Shelby realtor
John Barker has submitted an
application from Phillip R. Elam
for rezoning from residential to
light industry.
The 80 acres fronts 2000-plus
feet on the East side of Crocker
Road.
The Planning and Zoning
Board will have the request on
its February 18 agenda, said
Killian.
City Council will have the
item on the agenda for its
January 28 meeting. It is cus-
tomary for the City Council to
refer zoning matters to the plan-
ning board for a recommenda-
tion and then set a public hear-.
ing at its February meeting.
See Zoning, 3-A
president found shot in head
from a gunshot wound to the
head. :
Dr. John C. McGill, chairman
of the bank's board of directors,
said the board approved an in-
terim reorganization of the
bank's management in the ab-
sence of Whitaker who was
found shot in his car in Grover
Friday morning from what au-
thorities are investigating as an
apparent suicide attempt.
"We deeply regret the circum:
Kings Mountain People
2
"h o>
Office on the first floor was the
Mayor's office and Marty's pre-
sent office belonged to the
Mayor's secretary. The city utili-
ties department and bookkeep-
ing department was located in
what is now the police records
office. There were no computers
and no high tech communica-
tions systems.
Blanton has mixed emotions
about leaving the historical
building when and if the city
builds a new police department.
"This building has a lot of his-
tory and if it is torn down I
want to salvage the cupola on
top of the building for senti-
mental reasons," she says.
Computerization and new
equipment revolutionized law
enforcement and today the po-
lice force numbers 45, including
reserve officers and school
crossing guards. Veteran officer
Bob Hayes became Chicf of
Police, Captain Richard
Reynolds, formerly in the
Detective Division for many
years, is patrol commander and
stances under which we are
making this appointment,”
McGill said.
"The Board of Directors is
confident that Mrs. Lovelace
and the bank's management
team, who will assume some of
her current responsibilities, will
manage First Carolina success-
fully during this difficult peri-
od," he said.
Whitaker was elected to the
board of directors in 1979 and
tions have included a school re-
source officer, a D. A. R. E. offi-
cer and a COPS program,
among others.
Marty's responsibilitics have
included the paperwork for the
new programs, correspondence
and a DWI grant and much
more.
A native of the Oak Grove
Community, Blanton is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stokes
Wright. She graduated from
Kings Mountain High School in
1971 and learned her secretarial
skills in Suzie Howard's
Cooperative Office Practice
Class. She worked in the Kings
Mountain Hospital Business
Office while in high school and
later in several law offices in
town and at Carolina Throwing.
Her activities have expanded
to the four county Region®C
and she was runner-up secre-
tary of the year in 1988 and has
won the secretary of the year
award locally five times, an
honor voted by her co-workers.
She won the civilian Top Gun
became the bank's president
and chief executive officer in
1987.
"He has been a dedicated,
loyal and trusted employee of
First Carolina since 1977 and
during his tenure the bank's to-
tal assets have grown from $20
million to over $100 million,"
said McGill.
McGill said Whitaker has
See Bank, 9-A
MARTY BLANTON
Award after scoring 100 on the
police rifle range in a training
program offered female em-
ployees by Sgt. Raymond
Garris. Blanton completed Dan
Stark's concealed weapons
class. She keeps her Division
Criminal Investigation certifica-
tion to help out when needed in
communications. :
Marty is married to Jerry
Blanton, manager of Shelby
Paint Store. They have a daugh-
ter, Laura, and a son, Steven.
See Blanton, 3-A
| CAROLINA
BE
Here We Come!
x
" ~ gr po
TERMINAL OPENING - Benton Express Inc. plans to open a terminal and new direct carrier ser-
vice on York Road February 4. Steve Lemmons, terminal manager, who stands in front of the big
rigs, is hiring local drivers.
oi
Since 1889
Kings Mountain, N.C. » 28086 * 50¢
Commissioners
extend options
oh 2 properties
By a split vote, Cleveland
County commissioners Tuesday
night extended for another 120
days its option on two pieces of
property it is considering for an
industrial park. :
The vote came after three
commissioners - Willie
McIntosh of Shelby, Mary Accor
of Kings Mountain and Ralph
Gilbert of Lawndale - voted to
table the matter until the next
meeting. Commissioners Joe
Cabaniss, Ray Thomas, Bobby
Malloy and Chairman Jim
Crawley voted to extend the
option after the motion was
made by Vice-Chairman
Cabaniss.
The options on three tracts
expire Feb. 12.
The options are held by the
county on 328 acres northwest
of Shelby owned by the Shelby
Loan and Mortgage
Corporation, 235 acres in Kings
Mountain owned by the Grier
Plonk family heirs and seven
acres adjoining the Plonk tract
owned by the Odessie McSwain
family . The cost to extend the
option on the Plonk property is
$15,000, the cost to extend the
option on the Shelby Loan
See County, 9-A
By a unanimous vote, the
Kings Mountain Planning &
Zoning Board Tuesday night
gave the green light to White
Oak Manor's revised plans for
expansion.
The action means that the
board will recommend to the
January 28 meeting of City
Council that the nursing home
property on Sipes Street be re-
zoned from residential to condi-
tional use.
"On January 29 we plan to
move ahead with expansion of
the facility by 60 beds," said re-
tired city planner Gene White,
who has worked with White
Oak officials in a compromise
agreement with the adjoining
property owners.
Adjoining property owner
Lou Ballew, a member of the
planning board, called the deci-
sion a "landmark case." She said
White Oak's is the first condi-
tional use request to come be-
fore the board since the city
adopted a new zoning ordi-
nance.
"We have all worked together
but every case that comes be-
Express Container
to build near Grover
Kings Mountain will provide
the water and sewer utilities to
serve Express Container
Corporation, ‘a contract pack-
ager who plans to invest $3 mil-
lion in a new plant at the inter-
change of 1-85 and N. C. 216 in
Grover.
The Cleveland County Board
of Commissioners, after a pub-
lic hearing Tuesday night, gave
the go-ahead to extend water
and sewer lines to the new in-
dustrial site in keeping with
state law and the county poli-
cies. The coupty's policy is to
expend funds to make such ex-
tensions as long as the tax re-
ceipts from the industrial cus=+
tomer repay the cost within the
first four tax years.
Steve Nye, executive director
of the Cleveland County
Economic Commission, and
Steve Killian, Planning Director
for the City of Kings Mountain,
attended the public hearing.
Nye said the estimated cost for
the construction would be
$3,525 for 200 feet of sewer and
fore us will be different,’ she
said. "
Landscape contractor Joe
Champion will do the work and
the adjoining property owners
will select the buffer materials,
shrubs and trees with the cost
to be paid by White Oak Manor.
The contract stipulates that the :
landscaping be completed by
May 31 but that the completion
date could be extended in event
of inclement weather.
Codes Officer Jeff Putnam
said no one had sent letters or
called his office in opposition to
the rezoning request. He said
White Oak's revised site plan
meets all the city's requirements
outlined in the new ordinance
and in most cases far exceeds
the requirements.
Putnam said the minimum .
requirement for a vegetative
buffer strip is 10 feet wide but
that White Oak has agreed to a
14 feet wide buffer and in plac-
ing the vegetation and materials
at the discretion of the property
owners. Setback requirements
for the proposed new building
See White Oak, 9-A
Benton Express Inc. to open
terminal in Kings Mountain
* Benton Express Inc. will open
its first terminal in the
Carolinas at the old Fredrickson
building on York Road
February 3.
Steve. Lemmons, terminal
manager, is currently hiring
drivers for direct runs to
Charlotte, Monroe and Hickory
and as far South as Greenville
and Spartanburg, SC.
He expects to hire six local
drivers immediately and to put
* on as many as 20 in the next 90
days. He is taking applications
this week and putting the build-
ing in shape for a grand open-
ing. :
Formerly account executive
for 10 1/2 years with
Fredrickson before it closed its
Kings Mountain operation two
years ago, Benton is excited
about the new trucking venture
for Kings Mountain.
He was terminal manager for
Saia Motor Express in Hickory
for 18 months before joining
Fredrickson. For the past two
years he has commuted from
Kings Mountain to Hickory to
work. His associate, Becky
White, wife of city councilman
Jerry White, will serve as office
manager for the new Kings
Mountain terminal.
The 36-door terminal sits on
12 acres of land which Benton
Express, owned by Herb and
CHip Matthews of Jacksonville,
Fla., has an option to buy. The
Matthews family will be in
Kings Mountain for a barbecue
officially opening. the new busi-
ness.
" saw our neighbors
Clevemont, Fredrickson and
Sterling Equipment all close
and I thought we have a lot of
opportunity on this corner of
See Benton, 3-A
i
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