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Vol. 110 No.11
Thursday, March 12, 1998
Kings Mountain, NC «Since 1889 *50¢
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Eo vit, Sin te. a Fes
Kings Mountain
By Gary Stewart
First Baptist reaches
out through building
The new Christian Life Center under construc-
‘tion at First Baptist Church in Kings Mountain is
not just a fellowship building.
According to Dr. John Sloan, pastor, it is part of
: a building program called “Partners in the
: Harvest” which enables the church “to reach out
and include more people in its fellowship and in
: the service of the Lord.”
The 10,000-square foot building, though
delayed by the weather for about 30 days, should
- be ready for occupancy by July or August. It will
include a large multipurpose room for large
: dinners and recreation, a stage for dramatic
presentations, and a fully-equipped kitchen and
“seating area that will serve 500 people.
. In addition, a smaller dining room located off
* the main room will seat up to 100 and will be
used for smaller, formal occasions such as wed-
ding showers and rehearsal dinners.
. _ According to Sloan, the focal point of the
building will be a large stained glass window that
will be visible from the main parking lot.
As important as the new building will be for
fellowship reasons, it will also enable the church
to turn its current, smaller fellowship building
into much-needed Sunday School classrooms.
“We've outgrown our educational building, so
the new facility gives us the opportunity to turn
| the old fellowship hall into new Sunday School
space,” Sloan said. “It is too small, | but it willbe
' ideal for redevelopment into Sunday School
classrooms.”
It will also enable the church to turn the main
floor of its educational building into a total
preschool wing. “We're blessed with a lot of
young families and young children,” Sloan said.
“and this will enable us to really develop our
preschool area.”
First Baptist is a largest congregation in Kings
Mountain. Its total membership is 1,211 and its
resident membership is 1,027. Last year’s average
Sunday School attendance was 452.
The church holds Sunday worship services at
8:30 and 11 a.m., and Sloan said the combined
attendance is about 550.
“We just started the early service this year and
it has gone over well,” he said. “They say our
auditorium seats 700, but growth experts say that
if you have 80 percent of your capacity you're full.
So we basically looked to that and felt like we
were full, and we also did it to help a little bit
with the parking situation.”
Sloan said the church approved $1.7 million for
the construction of the new Christian Life Center
and renovation of the old fellowship building into
11 classrooms. He predicts the new building will
cost $1.5 million.
Even though there are no Sunday School
classrooms in the Christian Life Center, Sloan said
it probably will be utilized for three to four
classes. The office of the minister of youth and
recreation will also be located in the building.
The church will plan a dedication ceremony
closer to the date of the building's completion.
New buildings are nice, and they certainly
fulfill a need, but Sloan looks at the new Christian
Life Center not as an end of a construction project
but the continuance of a spiritual building pro-
gram.
<= “Qur building program is called Partners in the
Harvest,” he said. “We are essentially asking
members to partner together to reach people for
Jesus Christ. We view this building as a means to
the end of reaching people for Christ. We don’t
look at this building as the end itself. It’s just the
means for enabling us to reach out and include
more people in the fellowship and in the service
of the Lord.”
WORK PROGRESSING - Despite rain that
has delayed the project about 30 days, work
is progressing on the new Christian Life
€enter at First Baptist Church.
LGC says audit late but auditor disagrees
While commending the City of Kings Mountain
“for improvements in the city’s financial condition,”
the Local Government Commission says the audit
report was submitted nearly two months after the
due date of October 31.
But the city’s auditor Darrell Keller said the city
audit has never got to Raleigh before November 1
and he questions why the date is at issue now. Keller
says the due date is October 31 but he has until
December 31 and that has been the policy for nine
years.
“Because the City of Kings Mountain has had to
overcome numerous problems over the past years I
feel obligated to do a lot more audit work than is
normally done under a materiality audit approach,”
Keller wrote T. Vance Holloman March 9 after
Hollman'’s letter of February 23 to Mayor Scott
Neisler with copies to Keller, City Manager Jimmy
Maney and City Clerk Marilyn Sellers.
Holloman, the state director of Fiscal Manage-
ment Section for the Department of the Treasury,
wrote city. officials that the city’s audited financial
statements were not submitted to the Raleigh office
until December 18,1997, “’well after the due date of
October 31.”
“A report received by the governing body over
five months after year-end identifies financial and
operational problems after it is too late for the board
Fred Caldwell stands in front of a new Malibu at the Kings Mountain dealership.
Lh AB ie kA
Mienriey? Chevrolet is now Caldwell Chevrolet.
Lenoir businessman Fred Caldwell purchased the
Kings Mountain dealership last week from Ray
McKenney of Belmont.
Caldwell also owns and operates Valley
Chevrolet in Granite Falls.
The new owner plans to add at least eight more
jobs in sales, service, parts and body shop.
A native of Gaston County, Caldwell began his
love affair with cars in Ranlo when he bought his
first vehicle as a high school student working part
time at the A&P Store in Gastonia for $1 an hour
and taking home $68 a month. Caldwell still owns
the turquoise 1963 Ford and also a 1964 Corvette
and does the maintenance on them himself.
He got his first experience in sales as an 11-year-
old paper boy for The Charlotte Observer and
Gastonia Gazette.
Caldwell started selling cars for Earl Tindol Ford
in Gastonia in 1975, was promoted to the finance
office and then to the position of New Vehicle Sales
Manager. In 1985 he became a partner in a Lenoir
Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury dealership and in 1989
he and Tindol bought Valley Chevrolet in Granite
Falls and Caldwell subsequently purchased the con-
trolling interest in the business.
He has worked for four dealerships during his
career and says he love to see customers get the car
they want.
, Caldwell buys Chevrolet dealership
“General Motors believes that this area is large
enough for a stand-alone Chevrolet dealership,”
said Caldwell.
Caldwell and his wife, the former Vicki Pittman,
have been married 30 years. Their daughter, Kristy
Oliver, works in the company business and she and
her husband, Shawn, are planning to relocate to
Kings Mountain. April Caldwell is completing
work on her master’s degree. A registered dieti-
tian, she is completing her internship at Gaston
Memorial Hospital.
Caldwell is one of 28 dealers elected nationwide
to the Chevrolet National Dealer Council which
represents 4,351 Chevrolet dealers in the United
States. He represents the dealerships in the two
Carolinas on the board of General Motors
Chevrolet division. A Rotarian, he has a 13-year
perfect attendance record.
Other personnel at the local dealership at I-85
and Broadview Drive are Linda Thomasson, office
manager; Robert Evanegn, sales manager; Barry
Wilson, service. manager; J. C. Garrison, parts man-
ager; and Tim Peeler, finance manager. Sales rep-
resentatives are Anne Posey, Bobby Posey, Harry
Splawn, Jamie Redding and Jim Miller.
McKenney, who owns four automobile
dealerships in Belmont and Gastonia, bought the
local Chevrolet-Geo Inc. dealership in 1993 from
Baucom Chevrolet.
Five percent teacher raise
in current expense budget
A five-percent teacher supplement raise is projected
in the local current expense budget which reflects a
10.2 percent increase for 1998-99 by the Kings Moun-
tain Board of Education.
Public hearing on the budget is slated for Mon-
day, April 20, during the board’s April meeting. The
board has advanced the date of its April meeting
due to the Easter holidays.
“We anticipate the state will provide raises for
state employees and we would match those funds
for local employees,” said Supt. Dr. Bob McRae at
Monday night’s board of education meeting at Cen-
tral School.
The budget also includes monies to keep the new
pay plan in place with appropriate raises to non-
certified employees.
The budget also includes money to add a 3/4
position in gifted education recommended by the
study committee, for supplies and materials for the
maintenance department to meet increased costs, a
$10 per child increase for instructional supplies and
equipment and allocates money to reduce truancy
in the schools and funds for new bus telephones.
The Kings Mountain Schools are asking $2.2 mil-
lion from the county board of commissioners but
no raise in the school supplemental tax of 19 cents
per $100 property valuation.
The proposed budget anticipates expenditures of
$281,551 for capital outlay projects, the same
amount as last year. McRae said this money is ear-
marked for basically routine projects such as roof-
ing, carpeting, paving, furniture and other build-
ing and grounds needs.
Board members approved the gifted education
program, a safe school plan and four revisions to
the school improvement plan. There are basically
no changes in the safe school plan. “We're doing a
good job of working to keep our schools safe but
we want to detail and meet all state requirements,”
McRae said.
In a related action the board employed Lee
Icenhour of Conover at a cost of $65 an hour to work
three or four days for assistance in being certain that
the school system meets applicable OSHA and EPA
requirements.
The board contracted with Bell Atlantic for
phones for 34 buses and set guidelines for the use
of the phones for emergency reasons. With credits,
there will be no cost to the system for the remain-
der of the school year and the contract calls for re-
placement of batteries for two years and replace-
ment of each phone at least one time. The cost next
year of $4,000 is included in the proposed budget.
-The phones would be suspended during summer
months except eight phones which will be used for
See RAISES page 3A
to take any effective action. As stewards of the
public’s resources, the governing body is respon-
sible for ensuring that audited financial statements
are available to the public in a timely manner,” said
Holloman.
He continued, “Also, information in the report is
needed by various external groups such as the
North Carolina General Assembly, funding federal
and state agencies, and other public associations.
You should discuss the lateness of the report with
your auditor and take action so that the audited fi-
nancial statements are completed and submitted in
a more timely manner for the current fiscal year.”
See AUDIT page 3A
Council approves
bid for new pool
By Elizabeth Stewart
of The Herald Staff
By vote of 6-1, City Council Monday night ac-
cepted the low bid from Aqua Pools Inc. at $526,547.
for the new city swimming pool which could be
ready for swimmers this summer, weather permit-
ting.
Eincilinnn Bob Hayes sided with the Kings
Mountain Recreation Commission, which had ear-
lier okayed Stewart & Cooper architect's plans for
the facility, in requesting that new bids be taken and
that the pool depth be extended from 5 1/2 feet to
at least 8 1/2 feet with a diving board.
“The pool should be the focus of this building
plan,” said Joe Champion, who said some cuts could
be made in the building costs.
Stewart and Cooper Architects did ‘that. possi--
| bly some cuts could be made but if the city bid the
buildings and pool separately the cost would be
more.
“With 92 calendar days and with good weather
we can complete the project by mid June,” said the
architect.
But Mike Bennett and Champion, members of the
recreation commission, said that Council should
delay the opening of the swimming pool if it meant
building a better quality pool.
Mayor Scott Neisler and Councilman Phil Hager
said the trend in pool construction is to eliminate
diving boards because of high liability for cities.
Hayes, retired Chief of Police, said the city had never
had safety problem at the old Deal Street pool which
had a diving board.
City Manager Jimmy Maner said a change in
direction for the pool would mean buying more
concrete and more pumps and “starting all over
again.”
Maney said the city had budgeted $500,000 for
the new pool. He estimated t costs of the pool, deck,
buildings, restroom areas, fences, kiddie pool and
bath house would amount to about $600,000.
Champion and Bennett argued that the proposed
facility may not be adequate in the future.
“We need a quality facility whether we're swim-
ming in June or not,” said Bennett.
Councilman Gene White said he disagreed with
recreation officials that a diving board should be
‘included in the plans. “My main concern is for safety
and control of it,” he said.
Champion said he’d like to see a breakdown of
the costs. “After a long discussion our board voted
recently to ask Council to redo the pool bids and
spend more for a better pool than the building,” he
said.
“The cuts should be in the building, not the pool,”
Champion said. “Slow down and we'll have a bet-
ter pool.”
Said Hayes, ” I agree with Joe and Mike, this
project isn’t in stone. Look at a lot of things and con-
sider the depth.”
‘Charlie Smith, a member of the recreation com-
mission, said “We all okayed the pool plans at a
meeting.” Other recreation commission members
are David Allen, chairman; Norma Bridges, co-
chairman, Twyla Robinson, secretary, Tim Spicer,
Dan Potter and John Foster.
The mayor called for the vote after a lengthy dis-
cussion. Voting to move ahead with the project as
planned were Council members Hager, Bridges,
Rick Murphrey, Jerry Mullinax, Clavon Kelly, and
White.
S
Birthdays /
Business = 5A
Classifieds 1-9C
Church News 4-5C
Engagement/Wedings 2C
Features 6A
Obituaries : 7A
_ PoliceNews = 2A
School News 5-6C
Sports 1-3B
CS