Member
North Carolina Press Association
Vol. 109 No. 05
Council approves
buying fire truck
: + The approval by City Council
of a lease purchase in the next
budget year of a $236,502
pumper for the Kings Mountain
Fire Department was the icing
on the cake of a number of ma-
jor items of equipment ap-
proved by the board Tuesday
night.
Although some items in the
lengthy 32-item agenda evoked
much discussion from Council,
the purchase of a total of
$457,000 in equipment did not.
The new pumper is expected
to be delivered by Triad Fire
Inc. the end of the year and will
be financed over a five year pe-
riod with annual payments of
$55,000. City Manager Jimmy
Maney said the revenue for the
truck can be generated from
additional money the city will
receive from annexation in June
or July of this year and from
savings from the new peak gen-
eration plant.
He said money for the other
projects is already budgeted for
capital expenditures in the cur-
rent budget.
Approved were two 1997
~ Ford Crown Victoria police cars
at state contract pricing of
$38,056 for the Kings Mountain
Police Department, four 1/2 ton
pickup trucks for the street de-
partment at $61,026; a cab and
chassis for the electric depart-
. ment at $39,998.65; a dump
truck for the water and sewer
department at $25,022; a 3/4
ton cargo van for the gas de-
partment at $14,996 and $40,400
for reroofing of the booster
Roots important to Ruth McDowell
As a child Bh up in the
Lincoln Academy Community
of Crowders Mountain Ruth
Alexander McDowell dreamed
of going to Africa.
"I told my friends at school
what I wanted to do when 1
grew up and they laughed at
me because our image of Africa
was terrible," said the widow
of Rev. McDowell.
Mrs. McDowell's dream came
true in 1947 and she was com-
missioned by the Foreign
Council tables county
By a vote of 6-1 City Council
Tuesday tabled for a month a
decision on whether to enter in-
to an agreement with the
Cleveland - County Health
Department to take over the an-
imal control duties in Kings
Mountain.
Earlier, a substitute motion
to. deny and offered by
Councilman Jerry Mullinax
with Councilmen Jerry White
and Ralph Grindstaff support-
ing failed 4-3. Voting against
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about drug
Kings Mountain children as young as 12 nave
experimented with drugs and are heavy smokers
+1 and they admitted it in a recently released
Student View, a drug prevention effectiveness
survey offered county wide in grades 6-12 and
paid for by a $13,000 grant from Carolinas
Medical Center.
The survey revealed that 7 percent of the boys
and girls surveyed in sixth grade smoke at least a
half pack of cigarettes a day but only 7 percent of
the girls and 21 percent of the boys tried alcohol
without problems. Among sixth graders 86 per-
cent of the boys said they had never used any
form of alcohol and 72 percent of the girls said
they had not.
Forty percent of the ninth grade class of girls
and 39 percent of the boys surveyed said they
had never touched an alcoholic drink while 27
1 percent of both the girls and boys classes said
they had had a drink in the last 12 months but
never experienced problems with their parents or
with the law. Twenty-eight percent of the boys in
the same class said they had been drinking and
31 percent of the freshmen girls said they too ex-
perienced problems after they had a drink.
"There seems to be more usage as the age
| group gets higher," said Patsy Rountree, the
| school system's food service and health coordina-
| tor.
"We do have concerns,’ ‘said Asst. Supt. Dr.
| Jane King. "But it isn't unique to Kings
Mountain."
Of students surveyed in the 10th grade 29 per-
| cent of the boys had never touched a drink nor
Shelby Baldonado, left, and her brother, Kenny Baldonado, took
advantage of Tuesday's unseasonably warm weather to get in a
game of basketball at the Davidson Park court Ine. weather is %
Mission Board to serve as an
educational missionary in
Angolo, West Africa.
Preacher McDowell served
as a minister of the First
Congregational United Church
of Christ. It took a year for Mrs.
McDowell to learn the language
of the country and every fifth
year the couple returned to
their home church to give pro-
grams and to report about ac-
tivities on the mission field to
other congregations.
were Council members Dean
Spears, Phil Hager, Rick
Murphrey and Norma Bridges.
Mullinax then voted against
tabling the matter.
After votin to table, Council
instructed City Attorney
Mickey Corry to contact county
attorney Julian Wray to negoti-
ate a "hold harmless" clause
questioned by Grindstaff in the
current contract. Under the one
year contract, the city would al-
so provide a truck for the ani-
— had 39 percent of the girls surveyed. But 27 per-
cent of tenth grade boys said they had used alco-
hol with no problem and the rate was higher for
e 1889
ARE
Schools concerned
responses
Kids as young as 12 admit they have experimented with drugs
System to study survey results
The results from a school-wide drug prevention
effectiveness survey are in but it will be weeks
before school officials have a chance to absorb all
the data and determine if what they are doing
now is effective or should be approached from a
different direction.
Dr. Jane King, Assistant Superintendent for
Instruction, and Patsy Rountree, the district sys-
tem's food service and health coordinator, said
the survey results will be passed on to the Kings
Mountain Health Council for recommendations.
Jimmy Hines, Director of CODAP, will be the
speaker at the February 10 Health Council public
meeting at 6:30 p.m. to define some arcas in
which parents can address at parent meetings.
He released the results of the drug survey to all
county schools Wednesday at a noon luncheon.
"We have strong programs in the schools such
as Students Against Violence Everywhere,
Students Against Alcohol and Drugs, peer media-
tion at both the middle and high schools and D.
A. R. E. in the elementary grades,” said King,
Dee Stuart, of the Minnesota-based Johnson
Institute, presented the findings to the Cleveland
County Substance Task Force Tuesday.
Answering the questions on the survey was
voluntary and students could choose not to an-
swer or skip any questions that made them un-
comfortable. Parents reviewed the questions be-
fore hand and could opt their children from
participation.
Students participating in the survey included
475 at Kings Mountain High, 397 at Kings
Mountain Middle School and 25 studen
ping to extend
extraterritorial jurisdiction to two miles
City Council voted 6-1
limits of over 10,000. Killian
‘the
"It was a wonderful experi-
ence and a joy to help and | still
have friends there after all these
years," said Mrs. McDowell.
The McDowells returned to
Africa to help celebrate the
founding of the mission station
founded by Rev. McDowell.
Rev. McDowell died in 1989.
Because her roots are deep in
Crowders Mountain
Community, Ruth McDowell
See McDowell, 3-A
RUTH McDOWELL
animal control plan
mal control officer and $1831.36
monthly through June of this
year and after that $1923.02
monthly.
County Health Director
Denese Stallings called a change
in animal control from the city
to the county cost effective,
would provide a centralized
location for residents, and cut
administrative costs and calls to
the local police department. She
said Kings Mountain is the only
municipality of the county's 15
GETTING CROWDED - The children's area of Mauney Memorial Library is one of facility's the
more popular places and is getting crowded. Louise Sanders, left, Children’s Librarian, and
~ Librarian Rose Turner say an expansion is needed.
that is not under the county's
umbrella for animal control.
Stallings said trained personnel
would be on call 24 hours a day
and would readily respond.
Mullinax questioned how six
employees of the county could
cover the whole county.
Grindstaff also questioned how
the county would handle the
calls made by Kings Mountain
residents in the city's corporate
See Animal, 3-A
Tuesday to ask the local delega-
tion to the North Carolina
General Assembly to introduce
enabling legislation to extend
the city's extraterritorial juris-
diction up to two miles.
Mayor Scott Neisler said if
Kings Mountain is to continue
to grow it needs to be able to
have jurisdiction over zoning
within a two mile area.
Councilman Jerry Mullinax vot-
ed against the proposal.
The mayor said he would
present the resolution to Rep.
Debbie Clary, Rep. John
Weatherly, Senator Walter
Dalton and Senator Andy
Dedmon for the docket of the
* General Assembly this year.
City planning director Steve
Killian, in a memorandum sup-
porting the plan, said the work
the city has contracted with
Benchmark Inc. has been
temporarily put on hold until
special legislation can be passed
allowing the city to have a two
mile extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Special legislation is required,
he said, because Kings
Mountain does not have a pop-
ulation within the corporate
said if special legislation is
passed the city could proceed
towards defining a two mile
ET] and drafting a zoning plan
for the new area on the city's
map.
In other actions Tuesdaf.
Council:
Rezoned after a public hear
ing residential property of Doris
Upchurch at 1210 Second Street
Extension from Heavy Industry
to R-8.
New Board of Adjustment
member Herman Greene and
Planning Board members M. C.
Pructte, John Houze and Jim
Guyton were sworn by Mayor
Neisler.
Set Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m for a
public hearing on a request
from Phillip Elam to rezone
property from R-20 to H-I or L-I
at the corner of Crocker Road
and Phifer Road. An industrial
prospect is looking at the prop-
erty for future development.
Directed City Clerk Marilyn
Sellers to investigate a petition
for voluntary annexation from
Pulliam Investments which is
See Council, 3-A
Library launches fund drive
A $300,000 fund drive for a new children's
wing at Jacob S. Mauney Memorial Library was
endorsed by the Library Board at a recent meet-
ing and got the green light from City Council
Tuesday night.
Librarian Rose Turner said that the money
could come from community fund raising and
possibly from state construction money and
grants that the city staff was given permission by
Council to help research.
City Manager Jimmy Maney and Mayor Scott
Neisler pledged to lobby Cleveland County com-
missionerss for additional money in support of
the library. "Let them know we are serious,” said
Councilman Ralph Grindstaff.
Also speaking in support of the fundraising
project were Library Board Chairman Dr. Jeff
Mauney, who said this year is the 50th anniver-
sary year of the local library, member Anne Corry,
Councilman Phil Hager and Clayvon Kelly.
"We are bursting at the seams in the children's
department where we have a book circulation of
49,409 compared to 24,868 for juveniles and
20,493 for adults,” she said.
With Smart Start checkout every Thursday
Children's Librarian and Outreach Coordinator
Louise Sanders wheels the fun books on carts or
in story bags into the Weir Auditorium from the
small storage areca which houses 115 story bags, a
popular program which came through grants
from Smart Start.
"We only have one reading table for children
who flock to the library for a wide assortment of
reading materials but we are just running out of
space,” said Sanders.
She said the canvas story bags each have a dif-
ferent topic and contain books and a variety of
other materials to present a teaching story pro-
gram on that bag's Jople. Anyone caring for a
child from birth to 5 years has access to the li-
brary materials and checks the Smart Start mate-
rials out only on Thursday.
"If we had more space we could check out the
materials every day and it would be more conve-
nient for the public,” said Sanders.
Turner envisions that the expansion of the li-
brary could come at the rear of the auditorium if
there is enough room for parking which has also
become a problem because of the heavy volume
of visitors.
Resource materials from Smart Start grants and
from a Preschool Resource Outreach Project and
See Library, 3-A