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White says he won't run again
Ward 4 City Councilman
Jerry White said this week he
will not offer for reelection in
November.
"I love Kings Mountain and
I've been in public work all my
life but it's time to step down,"
he said this week.
Citing personnel confiden-
tiality laws, White, 53, would
not confirm nor deny a rumor
that he was fired by Sheriff Dan
Crawford from his 16-year-job
in the Cleveland County
Sheriff's Department. He said
he left his job last Thursday.
White will continue as a
part-time officer with the
Grover Police Department.
"I love law enforcement,"
said the longtime deputy of his
association with the county and
Kings Mountain police depart-
ments. "I have many friends in
these departments and they're
good friends.
~ "Ihave tried to be a good offi- o
cer and have always given 110
percent to the job."
JERRY WHITE
Moss Lake fees
going up July 1
User fees at Moss Lake go up
July 1. ;
City Council Tuesday night
approved the new fee schedule.
A comparison of old and new
few schedules includes the fol-
lowing:
Lake resident with pier, two
boats and one jet ski on the
family plan paid $200 under the
old plan. The new rate is $370.
Lake resident ‘with a pier and
SE n
resident with seawall or
rip rap, land lease, paid $150
under the old plan. The new
rate is $250.
A city taxpayer with a boat
and two fishermen paid $25 on
the old plan. The new rate is
$27.
A city taxpayer with two
boats and two fishermen paid
$40 on the old plan. The new
rate is $42.
A city taxpayer with a jet ski
paid $15 on the old rate. The
new rate is $30. A lake resident
with a jet ski pays $60 under the
new rate.
Residents in the corporate
limits of Kings Mountain who
pay city taxes on real property
and personal property such as
boats receive a 50 percent dis-
count on fishing, jet skis, boat-
ing, picnic shelter and swim-
ming permits.
The lake swimming fee has
been reduced due to a shorter
swim season this year. Free fish-
ing licenses are issued to fisher-
; di or at least 70
Mountain city limits. Fishermen
under age six fish free.
The new fiscal year rates in-
clude $200 for a group pier fa-
cility with fees to be negotiated
through the city manager's of-
fice. Other fees are swimming
$15, reduced from $30; camping
night, $15; picnic shelter day
$60; picnic shelter half day, $30;
boating permit day $5; fishing
permit day $1; swimming day,
$2; daily jet ski permit $10 and a
new administration fee $25.
The U. S. Justice Department has okayed the
city's plans to amend the city charter to establish
non-partisan elections beginning in November.
County Elections Board Supervisor Debra
Blanton says that all remains for the county to
conduct the upcoming election is a contract to be
formalized between the City of Kings Mountain
and the County Board of Elections.
At a November 1996 public hearing City
Council voted to amend the charter, pending the
approval of the U. S. Justice Department, and to
abolish the 45-year-old city board of elections and
contract with Cleveland County Board of
Elections to run the election.
A non-partisan election with plurality means
there is no primary election and no runoff. The
winners in each race would be determined by
A
at area churches
Large.
VOR
SEG
YAP on ——
All seats on City Council, including Mayor
Scott Neisler, are up for grabs on November 4.
They include Council members Phil Hager, Ward
I; Jerry Mullinax, Ward II; Ralph Grindstaff, Ward
III; Jerry White, Ward IV; Rick Murphrey, Ward
V; and Dean Spears and Norma Bridges, At
Filing will open at 8 a.m. Monday, July 7, and
cials.
simple plurality vote and elected for a two-year
term.
READY FOR EASTER - The Easter bunny has already arrived
at the home of Billy Bridges, 6.
Despite an illness that has kept
him homebound all his life, his parents, Clarence and Helen
Barnette, say little Billy is "all
days a week at home and is
boy." He goes to school three
counting the days until Sunday
when he and his dog can hunt Easter eggs.
Spring spurs building activity in KM
A spring building boom has
hit the area.
City Planning Director Steve
Killian said that not only com-
mercial building interest has
spurred with spring but resi-
dential homes are going up.
The city codes office has
looked at preliminary site plans
for a group of homes going up
by Tommy Hall off Wells Street
on Quarry Road. Hall plans to
build eight units, including two
duplexes and a quadruplex.
Hubert Toney also plans to
build homes on Carpenter
Street and East Ridge Streets.
The city has also issued a
building permit for developers
of Bojangles, a fast food restau-
rant to go up on Cleveland
Avenue near the ABC Store.
Mike Trammell and Al Moretz
have handled the survey work
and site plan, said Killian.
The old Rock Motel has been
torn down on Shelby Road and
workers have cleared the site.
Killian said the city staff has
seen no preliminary site plans
for development.
A Gaston Memorial Doctor's
building is going up on
Cleveland Avenue near the
ABC Store.
East Gold Street Wesleyan
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
Duane and Debbie Brown of Kings Mountain adopt
18-month-old Russian child, Matthew Sergei Brown
by ELIZABETH STEWART
of The Herald Staff
A Kings Mountain couple's
faith that God would give them
a child led them in February to
an orphanage in Russia.
Matthew Sergei Brown, 18
months, is spending his first
Easter in America and will
learn when he is older the
amazing story of his adoption
by Duane and Debbie Brown.
The healthy, 22 pound
blonde, hazel-eyed boy played
happily with his big sister
Monday morning as his par-
ents related a love story that be-
gan in April 1995 when they be-
gan their search for a child.
"We had been married for
eight years and though I had
two biological children,
Allyson, 17, and Tyler Ellis, 15,
by a former marriage we want-
ed to have a baby," said Mrs.
Brown.
But going international to get
a child brought them criticism
from some people who asked
why they didn't try to adopt in
the United States.
"Frankly we felt more secure
in going outside the country
and there are so many kids in
Russia who need a home," said
Duane, taking up their story.
"We wanted to bring every-
one of those children home
with us," he said.
Mrs. Brown said they feared
if they adopted a child from this
country that one day the moth-
er would return and want her
baby back. ;
That scenario happened to
the couple when they were li-
censed foster parents. They be-
came so attached to a little girl
and thought they would be
able to adopt her but the moth-
er came to them one morning
and took her daughter home.
Mrs. Brown said they didn't
want to go through that
heartache again.
Adoption wasn't easy but the
Browns' persistence paid off
when they saw Matthew for the
first time. It was by all accounts
love at first sight.
An administrative secretary
at Gaston Memorial Hospital,
Debbie learned about interna-
tional adoptions after a co-
worker took her a copy of a sto-
ry in U.S. News and World
Report about Americans going
to China to adopt children. She
contacted an agency in Mount
Pleasant, SC and heard about
the need for parents for chil-
dren in Mexico and started the
tedious paperwork.
See Brown, 9-A
Church plans a major expan-
sion to its facilities.
The former used car office
building occupied by
McKenney Chevrolet has been
torn down and Jim Testa, owner
of the land, has cleared it.
Spring weather has seen ma-
jor construction progress at the
site of Summit Place
International, an assisted living
complex going up on Phifer
Road.
end at noon on Friday, August 1. Candidates
would file at the Board of Elections Office in
Shelby during office hours Monday through
Friday. Filing fees are $60 for mayor and $36 for
city council, one-tenth the salary of elected offi-
Deadline for new registration or changes of ad-
dress is October 10. The county utilizes mail-in
registrations and voter registration forms are
See Election, 8-A
KM councilman wants
quicker 911 response
Can Kings Mountain route
911 calls from Gaston County?
This question got attention
from City Council Tuesday
night when Councilman Ralph
Grindstaff, who lives in East
Kings Mountain, suggested that
something should be done to
assure emergency service quick-
ly to his neighbors. = °
He said a neighbor suffered a
heart attack and it took 30 min-
utes for Gaston County rescue
told the board.
agreed Kings Mountain is
unique because some residents
of the city also live in Gaston
County and in the Linwood
area of the city but he said the
first responder is Bessemer City
of Gaston County.
"I checked with Cleveland
County and I was told that
Cleveland County rescue per-
sonnel can't cross over into
Gaston and vice versa,” he said.
Former longtime county
deputy Jerry White offered the
suggestion that Kings
Mountain firemen could possi-
bly act as a response team until
paramedics arrived.
Hayes said the city would
have to come up with its own
emergency medical service sys-
tem.
In a related matter the board
renamed Cameron Drive in East
Kings Mountain to Joanne
Court because of a duplication
in street names. City Planning
Director Steve Killian said he
had notified Gaston County of
the address change.
Chief of Police Bob Hayes
Former councilman
Ray Cline, 89, dies
Former Kings Mountain city
councilman Ray W. Cline, 89, of
106 Falls St., died March 26,
1997 at Kings Mountain
Hospital after a lengthy illness.
He was
a native of
Lincoln
County, sonof
employee off
Mauneyf
RAY CLINE Hosiery Mills. |
A member of St. Matthew's |:
Lutheran Church, he was a for- |:
mer deacon and Sunday School |:
Superintendent. A Navy veter-|
an of World War II, he was a life |
member of the Veterans off
Foreign Wars 9811, American
Legion Post 155 and Shelby
Moose Lodge. He served as
Commander of Kings Mountain
Post 155 American Legion and
Governor of Shelby Moose
Lodge. He was honored with
the Legion Order of the Moose.
Surviving are his wife,
Elizabeth Huffstickler Cline;
three sons, R. Carroll Cline of
Murfreesboro, Tn., Larry E.
Cline of Griffin, Ga. and Ralph
D. Cline of West Jefferson; three
daughters, Joyce Howell, Peggy
Wells and Dixie Blanton, all of
Kings Mountain; one brother,
Elliott Cline of Dallas; one sis-
ter, Rachel Kennington of
Charlotte; 22 grandchildren; 45
See Cline, 3-A
HAPPY EASTER - Duane and Debbie Brown play with their son, 18-months-old Matthew, in their
home on Pineview Drive. The Browns adopted Matthew in Russia and brought him home to Kings
Mountain in time to celebrate their baby's first Easter in this country.