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Vol. 110 No. 51
This Week
THURSDAY
12 hoon - Kings Mountain
Rotary Club meets at Ramada
Ltd.
6:30 p.m. - Kings Mountain
Kiwanis Club meets at Central
United Methodist Church.
5-10 p.m. - Third annual
Mountaineer Christmas in
downtown Kings Mountain,
sponsored by the Kings
Mountain Business
Association. Horse and buggy
rides, food and entertainment.
7 p.m. - American Legion
Auxiliary meets at Otis D.
Greene Post 155.
7 p.m. - White Plains Shrine
Club meets at the Masonic
Lodge.
FRIDAY
7 p.m. - First round of
North-South Basketball
Tournament, Kings Mountain
High School gym, featuring
Kings Mountain, Hunter Huss,
Blacksburg, SC and Boiling
Springs, SC.
SATURDAY
7 p.m. - Final round of
North-South Basketball
Tournament at KMHS.
Inside
Kings Mountain High School
football coach Ron Massey
yells encouragement to his
team during Friday's state
championship game in
Chapel Hill.
1B 1atefourth quarter
touchdown pass and defensive
stand lifts Winston-Salem
Carver’s Yellow Jackets to a
33-28 victory over Kings
Mountain in state 3A football
championship game at Chapel
Hill.
MAYES
STEWART
5B Lib Mayes of Kings
Mountain celebrates her 88th
birthday, and Essie Stewart
turns 100.
6B 7-year-old Billy
Bridges, who has been fighting
Ellis Van Crevelle syndrome
since his birth, was serenaded
by his classmates with
Christmas carols. Now, he
wants a computer.
8B East School students
saved their pennies to give to
hurricane victims in
Honduras, and you'll be sur-
prised at the amount.
12B Kings Mountain na-
tive Christopher Still paints
portrait of late Florida
Governor Lawton Chiles.
First Carolina Federal
VE SE a Yr
Var Te
_ Thursday, December 17, 1998
BH END OF A GREAT
RUN
St
Kings Mountain High football coach Ron Massey comforts his team after 33-28 loss to Winston-Salem Carver Friday
night in the 3A state championship game at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill. The loss was a bitter pill to swallow, but
Massey reminded the Mountaineers that they will be remembered as the best team in the school’s history. Game
story on more photos on page 1B
ard lines
approved
Lia The U. S. Justice Department has approved the
city’s redrawn ward lines, City Attorney Mickey
| Corry told City Council Tuesday night.
| “This is good news,” said Corry.
“event will include plenty of music, -
Mountaineer Christmas is Thursday night
The third annual Mountaineer
Christmas Thursday from 5-10 p.m.
in downtown Kings Mountain will
have something for everyone.
Sponsored by the Kings
Mountain Business Association, the
food and entertainment, and even
some fund-raising activities for lo-
cal causes.
The event was originally sched-
uled for last Friday night but was
postponed because, of Kings
Mountain High School's part it
See x A Bo 3
VR
bo
Committees on both sides of the
alcohol beverage control issue in
Kings Mountain are gearing up for
big campaign kickoffs in the new
year.
Gene White, Ward 4 councilman
and a leader in Citizens for a Better
Community pushing a petition ef-
fort to stop all alcohol sales in the
city, said tentative date for a kickoff
meeting for “drys” is January 11.
White said a chairman has not been
appointed but the committee work
will takeoff once the Board of
Elections presents a petition identi-
Tala
ge:
LT Sa
Cpr Eh 3 ] ita HEA SA ls
fying Kings Mountain s voter regis-
tion in the state championship foot-
ball game in Chapel Hill.
Kathy Neely of the Business
Association said it’s hard to predict
what kind of turnout the celebra-
tion will have, butsshe will gladly
settle for “as many ‘people/asw
had at the football game.”
“It’s hard to tell with us having to
change at the last minute,” she said.
“A lot of people are committed to
other events. We chose Thursday
- choy
h
[ARE v a
FEL OE
tration list.
Meantime, opponents of the peti-
tion effort to call for an ABC elec-
tion, may mount a petition effort of
their own and ask for a vote on alco-
hol by the drink, Danny Goforth, lo-
cal convenience store owner, said
this week. Goforth said a chairman
and a committee will be appointed
after the holidays.
White said that approximately
1800 names, one third of the regis-
tered voters in the city, would be re-
quired on petitions calling for an
HRSA Rh
night because we felt like our only ~~ ple
fer es ae kere Ei
Gd igh Bh SE NR
election. |
fore Christmas and everyone would
be too busy then.”
~ Last year’s event included Kings
Mountain's annual Christmas pa-
rade, and Neely feels like splitting
those events could help the crowd
“Last year it was so cold ‘and by
» the time people watched the pa-
rade, all the little dancers and
young people were just too cold to
stand outside and most of the peo- .
ent home. We ‘thought it
See Christmas, 3A
BC battle
“The opposition would require the
same number of names on their pe-
tition,” he said.
White said he expects to get the
petition from the county board of
elections later this month, possibly
as early as December 17.
“Kings Mountain has annexed
several areas and voters in those
new areas as well as all voters’
names must be validated and the
petition will be prepared exactly as
voters will see it on the ballot next
year,” he said.
See ABC, 3A
~ ties and meetings,” said Mrs. Bunch.
In other major business of the December
meeting Council approved immediate demolition
of two derelict and abandoned properties and
gave a third owner a 30-day reprieve to clean up.
As Council ordered the clean up, it also heard
the resignation of the city’s two building inspec-
tors. Andy Scoggins and Lee Hayes are taking
new jobs December 28 in similar positions in
Gaston County.
“The only difference in their new jobs is that
they won't be involved in codes enforcement
which we know is a tough job to do and they
both have done well and their shoes will be hard
to fill,” said City Manager Jimmy Maney who
will begin taking applications for the two posi-
tions.
Council okayed ordinances to demolish prop-
erties off Watterson Street and 931 Grace Street
and delayed for 30 days the demolition of a
building at 518 E. King Street. Councilman Rick
Murphrey said owners of Carquest had asked for
extra time to clean up the property.
An old motel on East King Street across from
the Kings Mountain Herald will soon go down
during a fire burning exercise of Kings Mountain
Fire Department.
In other actions, Council:
Started the upset bid process, receiving bid at
$500 per acre for 3.386 acres of city property on
North Piedmont Avenue from Pattie and Randy
Cash.
See Council 3A
Old Park Grace School
to become dining hall
The old Park Grace Elementary School may \
soon ring with laughter of voices again.
Businessman Kelly Bunch and his wife, y
Bernice, are rehabilitating the six-classroom
school building for a dining hall to seat up to 200
people.
“We are restoring the old auditorium to its
original design using a rounded stage and are
opening two of the classrooms for wedding par-
Wendell Bunch of Town and Country Barbecue
has opened a kitchen for his catering business at
the site.
City Council gave the green light to the Bunch
project Tuesday night by rezoning 3.8 acres east
of Park Grace Road and Battleground Avenue on
recommendation of the Planning and Zoning
Board and after a public hearing.
Planning Director Steve Killian said the rezon-
ing is in line with the city’s land use development
plan. Buffering is a requirement of developers.
Bunch said he envisions the project at com-
pletion will resemble the former Vauxhall, for-
merly housed in the old Elks Club in Shelby.
“This renovation will be on a smaller scale but we
think the community will like it,” said Bunch.
Hit and run driver §
splinters power pole |
By Alan Hodge
“It could have been a whole
lot worse." That's what Kings
Mountain Electric Director Nick
Hendricks had to say about a
hit and run accident Thursday
that left a major power pole
dangling by its wires.
Located at the corner of E.
King Street and S. Oriental
Avenue, the pole was apparent-
ly clipped by a tractor trailer
truck. The fact that the pole
simply dropped straight down
instead of falling to either side
meant that instead of west
Kings Mountain going black,
only a few homes temporarily
lost power. ..ouoded. Nt
A crew of eight workers on
the ground and in four baskets
overhead worked all day
Thursday to change out the
~ Looking
pole as it was finally pulled up: R
‘and the new one put in place, it
was easy to be grateful that
“alism of the crew that did the
cables. Crews returned Friday
morning to finish up the job.
Though the job looked daunt-
ing, crewmen handled it with
aplomb.
"We have a highly qualified
group of workers for situations
like this," Hendricks said. If
people need to report a problem
with their power, they can call
us anytime."
Throughout the repair job,
traffic was directed though a
chicane of orange cones, but
moved smoothly with few de-
lays. :
at the splintered
Lady Luck and the profession-
job worked hand in hand to
keep the lights burning in Kings
shattered pole and its mass of
Mountain.
Kino
Go
CC actihnia
TIE EEL]
CM
LET THERE BE LIGHT- Technicians from the Kings Mountain power company work to replace a
utility pole damaged by a hit and run driver Thursday. On the cherry picker are John Houser (left)
and John Putnam.
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