Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / May 1, 1997, 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
Member North Carolina Press Association Ingles request sent b City Council passed the buck to the Planning Board Tuesday night in what Councilman Ralph Grindstaff termed "a last ditch effort" to negotiate with Ingles Markets the proper placement of trees In its proposed new market on Oak Grove Road. An almost-full Council Chambers applauded Anvil Knitwear executive Ernest Rome who said Ingles proposed amendment to exempt them in the new ordinance from new projects requiring trees in parking lots was not unreasonable. Rome urged Council to approve the amend- ment and not let 17 trees stand in the way of a $3 million investment that would bring 90 new jobs to the community and $10 million in revenue that KM Police begin fund for Tessneers Kings Mountain Police have opened a special fund at First Union National Bank to help defray medical costs for co- worker, Ptl. Jerry Tessneer, at the death of Tessneer's 14-year- old son. The boy died April 26 at home after undergoing open heart surgery April 10. He had undergone an operation to re- pair a valve in his heart. Chief Bob Hayes says citizens who want to donate to the fund may forward their checks to the Jerry Tessneer Fund, c/o First Union National Bank, PO Box 459, Kings Mountain, 28086. "Jerry Jr. was doing well after hearta valve repair and took a turn for the worse," said Hayes. See Fund, 9-A Monday's heavy rains over- flowed streets and telephones started ringing at City Hall. "I had a deluge of calls," said Councilman Ralph Grindstaff at Tuesday's Council meeting where he volunteered to serve with Councilmen Jerry White, Jerry Mullinax and Clayvon Kelly on an ad hoc committee to study the drainage problems with an eye to fixing them. City Manager Jimmy Maney said the ground was still satu- rated Tuesday and that streets heavily flooded were in the Linwood section, including Catherine and Henry Streets. City workers unplugged ditches and checked culverts and drains but Maney said the city has serious problems be- cause it has insufficient equip- ment. Maney asked for the ad hoc committee to prioritize a list of drainage problems for inclusion in the Powell Bill budget if the drainage projects are eligible for funding from Powell Bill funds. Maney said the city needs a five to 10 year plan on paving, Council wants road finished City Council authorized City Manager Jimmy Maney to push the Department of Transportation to clean up the mess at the Business 74 intersec- tion at The Armory. "That is an ugly mess and something needs to be done about it,"said Councilwoman Norma Bridges of the orange barrels that dot the area. Councilman Jerry White agreed. It's a crying shame that D. O. T. has left the area that way." Mayor Scott Neisler said he had talked with D. O. T. offi- cials and said the improve- ments are in what he called a holding pattern. He said the state plans to install overlay and asphalt to make a new right turn lane on eastbound 74 for school traffic and to do some other areas of improvements. "We'll stay on top of it," he said. : would generate tax dollars for the city. "Send a message to future business and indus- try that we are a job and area friendly town," he told the board. Earlier in the public hearing, Ingles attorney Craig Colburn said the time line on the project had extended over two years. He presented packets of information to Council detailing Ingles permit application process which he said started on November 6, 1996. He said architects stopped work on the site plans after Ingles President Bob Ingle heard the city had changed its course with a new ordinance that included the placement of trees in the parking lots. the property. said. Kings Mountain." PRECINCT CHANGE HEARING - David Teddy, standing i i ; - . , , questions proposed change precinct lines. A large number of Kings Mountain, Grover and Rother: re oh changes which were put on hold by the elections board Tuesday. City experiences drainage problems sidewalk repair and drainage and Council will take a look at steps to remedy some of the problems at the next work ses- sion on the budget. The Mayor also appointed an ad hoc pay plan committee in- cluding Councilwoman Norma Bridges, Mayor Pro tem Phil Hager, and himself to study a proposed pay plan. In other actions, Council: Approved an increase in funding from $2,000 to $2,500 for the Cleveland County Arts Council after a presentation by Director Shearra Miller. She said the Arts Council is an um- brella organization for 22 arts agencies and is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Additional funds would support Arts in Education in the Schools and renovation of the former Shelby Post Office, home of the Arts Council. Rezoned property of Olin Love on Shelby Road to General Business. Attorney Scott Cloninger said Love wants to See Council, 3-A City Council inks contract for county to run elections City Council inked a contract with the Cleveland County Board of Elections Tuesday night to run the city elections and to provide for absentee voting in the municipal elections beginning in November. Monthly maintenance to be billed to the city over a two year period will run $3,785 based on 4,275 registered voters. Cost to conduct the election every two years will run $3,000. Mayor Scott Neisler said the contract calls for the city to be re- imbursed $4700 for two voting machines. Filing fees would be also reimbursed to the city but those filing for city offices would file in Shelby at the Cleveland County Board of Elections Office during working hours. The board voted: to set filing fees the same as has applied in former elections. Filing fee for commissioner is $35. Filing fee for mayor is $60. Elections Supervisor Debra Blanton called it a "pleasure” to serve and work with city officials. The mayor said he had visited the four sites which could be the polling places if the elections board expands the polling places from two to four. The mayor said the sites would be Second Baptist Church, No. 1; Community Center, No. 2; The Armory, No. 3 and The American Legion, No. 4. But Blanton said citizens attending a public hearing Tuesday afternoon objected to a change in voter precincts. She said the elections board is meeting again next week. "For a long time the city has understood what we wanted to do and Ingles complied according to the ordinance in effect at the time," Colburn "Let's do what is fair and right. We are commit- ted to building in Kings Mountain and you have told us you are committed to our building in CITY MANAGERS GET TOGETHER - Area city managers got together to share common con- cerns Thursday morning at the Kings Mountain City Hall. \/ parking lot. ack to Flanning Board Colburn said that Ingles had applied for and got annexation of the property owned by Judy and Paul Scism and the city council rezoned the property. He said Ingles holds an option to buy need to do," he said. City staffer Jeff Putnam said the only differ- ence for Ingles in the new and old ordinance was one driveway entrance and 14 or 17 trees in the "Those changes may not seem significant but they are to Mr. Ingle," said the lawyer. Mayor Pro Tem Phil Hager said if the city bends the rules for Ingles it will be expected to do town. BE Area precincts to remain same Voting places and precinct | lines will remain the same in he Kings Mountain, Grover and Bethware area. But Board of Elections Secretary Ruth Wilson of Kings Mountain said Tuesday after- noon after a lengthy public { hearing in Shelby that she would propose at a meeting an administrative change for the large Rippy i precinct in Upper Cleveland 1 since no one from that area stat- ed opposition at the hearing at- tended by about 50 people. Major opposition came from { Kings Mountain in No. 4 Township and Holly Springs in 4 No.1 ownship. The proposed precinct line changes by the Cleveland County Board of Elections wauld have reduced the size of both the Grover and Bethware precincts and meant that Kings Mountain voters would vote at “~ur polling places, instead of two, in the November elections. David Teddy, chairman of the Cleveland County Democratic Party, and Dean Westmoreland, former chairman, were joined by Larry Hamrick Sr., former city elections chairman Becky Cook, West Kings Mountain precinct judge Hilda Dixon and Charlie Carpenter in question- ing the changes. "Don't change for change sake,” said Hamrick. "You're considering a change in precinct lines without a sci- entific study of the problem,” said Teddy, who cautioned the board about moving too quick- ly. He recommended the board take a less drastic measure by buying more voting machines and hiring more assistants at the polls. Teddy said complaints about long lines had come from only a handful of people but agreed with board member Wilson that it was difficult to hire workers because of the long hours at the polls and the low pay. : "Go to the county commis- sioners and ask for more money and more workers," said Westmoreland who said that election workers and those on jury duty are the lowest paid people in Cleveland County. Hamrick said he had voted at the West Kings Mountain box at the Armory for 30 years and had never experienced long lines at the polls. He said he considered the matter a a per- sonnel and efficiency problem and said a change would be very confusing to the voters. Tedder said lines should be shorter with the new "no ex- cuse” absentee voting in which voters can go to the elections board office and vote. Chairman Rob Deaton, a Shelby lawyer, said another plus for the new bill is that nothing would keep a candi- date from busing people to the elections board office to vote. Deaton said he was especially sensitive to Holly Springs con- cerns where the voters would have had to drive to Boiling Springs to vote if the new precinct lines were put in place. "We don't want to have to the same for other new businesses that come to See Ingles, 2-A drive to Boiling Springs to vote," said Hoyle Potter. "Holly Springs is the red headed stepchild of Cleveland County," said John Mosteller. "Use that money you paid Isothermal Commission to do the study and give it to the elec- tion workers." Deaton said the purpose of the proposed change was to keep precincts down to 2,500 in size but Teddy and Charlie Carpenter said the board was looking at population figures and not at actual voter turnout at the polls. Elections Board Supervisor Debra Blanton said there is no state directive to make changes but that the state board had suggested that the ideal size of a precinct is 1,500 voters. She said that if the board followed that suggestion, however, it would mean more polling places and precincts and con- siderable expense. Blanton said she had received about 20 calls from people com- plaining of long lines with the bulk of the calls coming from the East Kings Mountain voters who cast ballots at the Community Center. Deaton said the opposition to the changes was overwhelm- ing and he recommended the board put the matter on hold. — No one from the surrounding areas spoke in favor of the changes. Wilson said precinct lines should be looked at least every two years and it's easier to piece-meal election changes than changing all the lines county wide at the same time. Deaton said that it was un- fair to single out two areas of Cleveland County for change. He said several Shelby precincts had also exceeded the 3,000 reg- istered voter figure. ; Wilson said that the board could have made the decisions to make the change without a public hearing but didn't opt for that because of public out- cry 10 years ago when the lines were redrawn. "People became used to the new ideas after about a year but it takes awhile to adjust to change,'’ she said. She said 4,000 people were voting at the time in Shelby Precinct I and the election officials had to bite the bullet and make the change. Member James Hoskins said that the board didn't want the public to get the wrong percep- tion. He said equalizing precincts would take time. He said with increased population that more study would be re- quired. Blanton said that mail-in votes would be accepted under the "no excuse" absentee bill ap- proved by the N. C. Legislature but that the person who re- quested vote by mail would have to fill out an application. Deaton said after the public meeting that the remarks by the public came because the people were speaking up for their com- munities. "We're getting away from communities and these folks were opposed to a change in their polling places. We need to listen to them," he said.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 1, 1997, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75