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KINGS MOUNTAIN
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Heral ana? MN NITY LNOOH S on
Best tea in town
Alice Lewis serves
up a nice cold
glass at Kiser's
Minit Grill
: -98082 NOWQA Ld W
Thursday, June 24, 1999 Vol. 111 No. 25 Since 1889 ys AT ITOH AN
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SPORTS
Now that he’s decided
against running for reelec-
tion, Mayor Scott Neisler
says he will lobby for the re-
turn of the four year term
for elected city officials.
The mayor says he will
probably approach City
Council at next Tuesday
night's June meeting to con-
sider calling for a vote on
the issue at the November
HUGH ORMAND
KM’s sports stars
Mayor to push for 4-year terms
municipal election.
do this while I was in office
but if this comes to a vote in
November it would not af-
fect the board that is elected
to a two year term in
November,” said Neisler.
says that now is the time to
consider the issue he says
“I didn’t feel like I could
Although the mayor
See Terms, 3A
of the 19th century
Today The Herald begins an
8-week series of Kings
Mountain’s top sports stars of
the 20th century. Two stars will
be highlighted from each
decade. The stars of the 1920s -
Hugh “Red” Ormand and
Coman Falls - are featured on
: page 1B
B SUMMERTIME
KM baseball team
going to Cooperstown
The Kings Mountain
Wildcats, a 13-year-old baseball
team, will go to Cooperstown,
NY, the home of baseball's Hall .
of Fame, for eight games in July.
2B
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Winnie Robinson holds a copy
* of Frazier Robinson's first pro
- baseball contract.
TREAT
Mayor won't seek reelection
out to do and at the same time
the fact of knowing that
Kings Mountain is moving in
the right direction, “ said
Neisler Tuesday.
He continued, “Itis still |
very tempting for me to think
that no one else can do this
job. But the city has been here
for 125 years and my tenure is
a very short part of that histo-
ry. The success of Kings
Mountain is not dependent
upon the efforts of just one
See Mayor, 3A
Mayor Scott Neisler made it
official this
week. He
will not
seek reelec-
tion as
mayor of
doors to the city’s highest of-
fice wide open.
“My tenure as mayor has
been a rewarding experience,
one that I will never forget.
“I am humbled that the citi-
zens of Kings Mountain had
Kings me represent them for the past
Mountain. eight years. This decision is
His not based on being tired of the
announce- job nor is it based on me hav-
ment ends ing plans to run for higher po-
months of litical office. The main reason
NEISLER speculation for my decision is having the
about the popular mayor's po- sense that I have accom-
litical future and flings the plished most of what I had set
City may take
action on water
request for S.C.
City Council may make a decision Tuesday on
whether to extend its water line into South
Carolina to serve McDonald Entertainment's new
gaming businesses.
The issue had been tabled for receipt of letters
from the Town of Grover, which recently voted
not to provide water service to the company, and
from Grover Industries, requesting fire protec-
. tion.
Mayor Scott Neisler said if the board approves
the request that it will honor the Town of
Grover’s request not to take any Grover water
customers. Grover currently serves Fastfare and
Welco Truck Stop which constitutes 17 percent of
the water Grover buys from Kings Mountain.
Grover Mayor Max Rollins wrote Neisler this
week that “assuming more lines into South
Carolina would be too great a liability for a town
the size of Grover” and that’s why his board had
declined the request.
“With the increase of traffic in that area, itis
very likely that the access ramp and all that area
along I-85 would be reworked in not too many
years and we could not afford to take that risk,”
he said.
Rollins said Grover had not been provided
with any figures showing a substantial amount of
water usage coming from the proposed line. He
said a majority of Grover citizens opposed ex-
®eececectvitcesinnnsae esseseeseeseeen eee EIEeeEeeel eel eee ln le ieNleeeietetee reteteerseetontcesersesareetaserseratessenes:
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Negro League star’s
autobiography is out
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Five-year-old Caroline Baker, left, and her two-year-old brother, Sam, enjoy ice cream cones from the
Swooger Shack on the first day of summer Monday afternoon. Caroline and Sam’s parents are Steve and
Sandra Baker of Kings Mountain.
The autobiography of the late
Frazier “Slow” Robinson of
Kings Mountain, a star in the
Negro Baseball Leagues in the
1930s and1940s, is out.
Robinson’s wife, Winnie, and
author Paul Bauer will hold a
signing session Tuesday night
at City Hall. 3B
ed a Gastonia man early
Tuesday morning at a York
Road carwash in connection
with a kidnapping and carjack-
S————— ing spree that started on Short
Hills Drive in Charlotte.
COMMUNITY According to police,
Wen Alexander McNeil, 27, of
KM Police begins
new bicycle patrol
Kings Mountain Police
Department is using a new en-
forcement tool - bicycles - to
beef up patrol and make offi-
cers better accessible to the
-community. 6B
Assuming City Council ap-
proves a lease agreement
Tuesday night , the YMCA
will probably take over Kings
Mountain recreation programs
on July 1. |
The lease agreement of the
Kings Mountain Community
Center and all of Davidson
and Deal Street Park athletic
facilities, excluding the
Walking Track, is on the agen-
Public hearing Tuesday
on possible annexation
Kings Mountain City Council
will hold a public hearing
Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. on the pos-
sibility of annexing property
with a total value of $24 million. da for the June 30 meeting of
3A : City Council at 7:30 p.m. at
city hall.
LETTERS The lease calls for an origi-
\ nal three year term with the
. it : option of either party to renew
| for seven additional one-year
terms. There are stipulations
for either party to end the
lease with proper notice.
Under the agreement, the
city will pay the Y $300,000 a
year, $25,000 per month, to run
Resident disagrees
«with School Board
Resident Robin Wall says KM
Schools’ hiring of retired Asst.
Supt. Jane King on contract is a
waste of money. 4A
Celebrating 125 Year
YOUR
HOMETOWN
BANK
Kings Mountain police arrest-
Council to consider
Y lease agreement
Gastonia allegedly forced his
way Monday afternoon into the
~ automobile of Lucius Cypriani,
21, and a female companion. He
allegedly forced the couple
drive to a gas station on Old
Dowd Road at gunpoint where
the woman escaped. McNeil re-
portedly held Cypriani, then
Man faces kidnapping charge
made him drive to Kings
Mountain. The female said that
McNeil and Cypriani had ar-
gued over a mutual acquain-
tance. Arriving in Kings
Mountain, Police said McNeil
left Cypriani's car, then went to
the carwash on York Road
See Charge, 3A
$000000000000000000000000000000000000000e000e0000000eiaaincnsrarene
tending the line.
In his letter to the mayor, Rollins asked for an
official agreement from Kings Mountain stating
that the city would deny service to any location
currently being served by the Town of Grover
utilities.
Rollins said his board would like to give input
on location of lines, meters, etc. but would re-
quire that any lines or meters turned over to the
Town be located inside the town limits and none
in South Carolina.
Rollins said plans were drawn up in the early
1990's at the request of Grover Industries, a cus-
tomer of the Town of Grover, showing a route for
fire protection off Highway 29 where the high-
way divides. After engineers completed the
study, Grover Industries opted not to proceed
with the line due to the costs.
its recreation programs. The
city currently pumps over
$400,000 a year into recreation,
including maintenance and re-
pairs, and would reserve over
$100,000 in a contingency fund
for repairs and renovations
and special community activi-
ties such as Fourth of July and
Christmas celebrations, spring
and fall festivals, which will
continue to be promoted by
the city.
On a 5-2 vote, with council-
men Bob Hayes and Jerry
Mullinax opposing, Council
May 25 authorized Mayor
Scott Neisler to enter into an
agreement with the Cleveland
County YMCA to manage the
Kings Mountain recreation
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
programs. The approval ofa
resolution of intent followed a
public hearing in which citi-
zens spoke for and against the
new venture.
ATR
300 W. Mountain St.
739-4781 SON-1111
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Employees of the North Carolina Department of Transportation were busy Monday working on
the re-alignment of State Road 2256 (Phifer Road). The road will be closed between Crocker
Road (SR 2252) and Fulton Drive for approximately 28 days. The detour route is Fulton Drive to
Margrace Road to Crocker Road to Phifer Road (three miles).
TS 10
Main Office
106 S. Lafayette St.
484-6200
(PPP
529 New Hope Rd
Mountain
Member FDIC
—