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Thursday, July 1, 1999
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KINGS MOUNTAIN
Herald
Vol. 111 No. 26
Since 1889
Torch Run
Mayor Scott Neisler,
left, and Special
Olympics torch run
Scott Hogue hoist th
Olympic flame
50 Cents
SPORTS
Bs
Jake Early caught entire Major League
. All-Star Game in 1943
Jake Early and Red Layton
were superstars of the thirties
. In the 1930's baseball was king in
Kings Mountain. And two of the
greatest players of that time were
Jake Early and Red Layton. 1B
KM wrestler Byers wins
World Trials Championship
Former Kings Mountain High
heavyweight wrestler Shon Byers,
now of the U.S. Army in Colorado
Springs, Colorado, won the 1999
World Games Trials last weekend in
Tampa, FL and will represent the
United States in the Pan American
Games later this month in Winnipeg,
Canada. 7A
AER SNS A
COMMUNITY
®
Kings Mountain Council
leases facilities to YMCA
Kings Mountain City Council
Tuesday night approved an agree-
ment to lease its athletic facilities at
Deal Street and Davidson Park to the
YMCAs of Cleveland County. The Y
officially takes over the management
of Kings Mountain recreation pro-
grams today. 3A
Grover Council approves
budget for fiscal year ‘99-00
Grover Town Board officially ap-
proved a $471,160 budget for the
1999-2000 fiscal year at its monthly
meeting Monday night. 5A
Holiday gas prices will
be around buck a gallon
Holiday gas prices across the state
will average about a dollar a gallon
for regular during the July Fourth
holiday. A survey of Kings Mountain
stations showed regular going for
99.9 cents to $1.09.9. 5A
PEOPLE
®
7 O-year-old Annie Huss
gets degree at Cleveland
You're never too old to get an edu-
cation. Just ask 70-year-old Annie
Huss, who recently received her high
school diploma at Cleveland
Community College. 5B
8-year-old Billy Bridges
in Charlotte Rehabilitation
Eight-year-old Billy Bridges, who
has battled health problems since his
birth, is in Charlotte Institute of
Rehabilitation trying to get weaned
off his oxygen and learning to eat on
his own without the aid of a feeding
tube. 4A
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Saturday at KM park
Independence Day is upon
us. Traditionally one of the
year's most festive and antici-
pated holidays, the Fourth of
July is that time when families
and friends get together for pic-
nics, towns have festivals ga-
lore, and fireworks light up the
sky.
A hotbed of patriotism since
our nation's colonial days,
Cleveland County has plenty
on tap to keep folks entertained
and fed this July 4th. Ranging
from parades to fireworks exhi-
bitions, something will be going
on this Saturday and Sunday in
many Cleveland County
towns.
Kings Mountain is all set to
celebrate Independence Day.
Scheduled for Saturday, July 3,
the Kings Mountain City Deal
Street Sports Complex will see
food, entertainment, swimming
at the City Pool, kid's games,
vendors, and more. Starting at
12:30 pm, the festivities will
conclude with a 9:30 pm fire-
works display touched off by
Mayor Neisler. The display is
being billed as the largest blast
in Cleveland, Gaston, and
Lincoln counties. Tune your ra-
dio to WKMT (1220 AM) to
hear a description of the action.
The town of Boiling Springs
and Gardner-Webb University
will team up to put on a July
Fourth show beginning at 7 pm
See Fourth, 3A
One of America's favorite tra-
ditions is the shooting of fire-
works on the Fourth of July. As
much a part of that holiday as
Uncle Sam and picnics with the
family, fireworks are an exciting
addition to Independence Day.
Fireworks have always been
a part of July 4th. In early days,
it was common for folks to add
cannon and musket fire to their
fireworks shows. Mounting in-
juries and even deaths from
these early firestorms led many
towns to pass ordinances out-
lawing pyrotechnics except by
designated individuals on July
4th.
For many years, fireworks
were illegal in North Carolina.
Recently the law has been re-
laxed somewhat to allow the
sale of certain types of fire-
works in the Old North State.
Fireworks that can produce an
explosion of any size or launch
a projectile are still illegal in
North Carolina. Examples of
Rain couldn’t
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
. A bright moment on the
Cleveland County economic
- scene outshone clouds and
rain Friday when ground was
broken for the new Sara Lee
Intimate Apparel Distribution
Center near Kings Mountain.
Located off Vestibule Church
Road, the packaging and dis-
tribution center will be a
370,000 sq. ft. structure em-
ploying as many as 500 work-
ers when completed in
December 1999.
"Nothing can dampen this
i day," Cleveland County
: Board of Commissioners
$09000000008000000008000000uV000800000000000000000000000000
Sara Lee groundbreaking
fireworks which may be legally
set off in North Carolina are
sparklers, glow worms, smoke
devices, caps under .25 grams
of powder, and trick noisemak-
ers like party poppers.
Several locations in Kings
Mountain, including Food Lion
and Winn Dixie, are offering
fireworks for the holiday.
"We've sold quite a bit of fire-
works," said Winn Dixie man-
ager Kris Tom. "Especially pop-
ular are variety packs and boxes
of sparklers."
Across the border from
Grover in South Carolina, the
fireworks scene is wide open.
Though South Carolina law
limits the amount of powder in
a fireworks piece to 5 grains, a
lot of variety can be achieved
with even that small amount of
explosive. No less than five
stores and stands selling South
Carolina-strength fireworks are
doing business a stone's throw
from Grover.
"People have been coming in
from as far away as Virginia,
$0000000000000007000000000000000ss0scnvonsacsssecsossofocecce
dampen
Chairman Jim Crawley said
as rain poured down. "This
dream began in 1991 when
the Cleveland Tomorrow
Planning Committee came up
with the idea for a business
park. As the first tenant of the
Cleveland County Industrial J;
Park, we pledge to Sara Lee
to do whatever is necessary
to give them the best busi-
ness environment possible."
Dignitaries attending the
groundbreaking for Sara
Lee's $14.5 million project in-
cluded Sara Lee Intimate
Apparel CEO Charles A.
Nesbit, Rep. Andy Dedmon,
See Sara Lee, 3A
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
Times Turn Around employee Virginia Pasour says she's ready
for the Fourth of July. Pasour sells fireworks just across the state
line from Grover and says business is brisk.
Fireworks plentiful in area
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
fireworks," said Virginia Pasour
at Times Turn Around store
near the intersection of I-85 and
Highway 29. "We've sold about ~~
$2000 worth of fireworks each :
day for the past week or so,"
* Pasour added.
Fireworks selection at Times
Turn Around and other Grover
area establishments is impres-
sive. Just a few of the multitude
of munitions available includes
multibarrel launchers, rockets
as big around as Polish
sausages, firecrackers by the
tens of thousands, and even
fireworks theme kits going by
such imaginative names as "The
Battle of Fort Sumter,” and
"TNT Powder Keg."
One thing that too many peo-
ple forget about fireworks in the
rush to set them off is that they
can maim a person for life.
Fireworks of any type are not
toys, but containers of gunpow-
der in varying sizes and shapes.
Each year, many people go to
the hospital from careless han-
See Safety, 3A
. .
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i vices plan which could | KIM denies
i mean charges by the water to
city if the residents ap- .
ply for the service. S.C. casinos
Reaction
mixed on
proposed
annexation
Fifteen residents spoke during an annexation
hzaring in packed city hall Tuesday night and
most said they didn’t want to be taken in the
city limits.
Specifically, the ma-
jority of concerns were
directed by KM sets
Canterbury Road and ‘| hearing on
Lake Montonia Road a
residents who objected 4-year terms
to a new septic tank 3A
maintenance program
included in the ser-
Ward 4 Councilman | so
Gene White recom-
mended that Council
drop the septic tank proposal altogether. “Sign
them up and if there is a problem, fix it at city
expense,” said White.
“We'll never see a sewer line in that area dur-
ing our lifetime because of costs,” said White,
who said the topography of the area is not suit-
able for sewer.
Council is expected to take action on the an-
nexation ordinance July 27. The two areas
would comprise the city’s largest annexation in
years, over 2,300 acres, 700 people, 250 homes,
30 businesses and nine miles of public streets.
See Council, 3A
Murphrey to run
for mayor’s seat
Ward 5 Councilman Rick Murphrey, Vice-
President of Sales for Spectrum Yarns and a
Kings Mountain resident
for 26 years, announced
this week that he is run-
ning for mayor.
The two-term council-
man’s announcement sig-
nals a race for the may-
or’s seat between
Murphrey and former
mayor Kyle Smith.
Mayor Scott Neisler an--
nounced last week that
he would not seek reelec-
tion.
The mayor's seat and all seven city council
seats are up for grabs in the municipal city elec-
tion in November.
A graduate of Atlantic Christian College,
Murphrey earned a B.S. degree in Business
Administration. He and his wife, Sandra, reside
on Garrison Drive and have one daughter,
Tracy, of Hickory. The family is active in First
Baptist Church.
As an active businessman with 30 years ex-
perience in sales, Murphrey said he is excited
about the potential to “sell” Kings Mountain.
MURPHREY
See Murphrey, 3A
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
Shovels ready, dignitaries at the groundbreaking for the new Sara Lee Intimate Apparel distribu-
tion facility off Vestibule Church Road in Kings Mountain braved buckets of rain and mud Friday. At
their shovels are, left to right: Cleveland County Commissioners Joe Hendrick, Joe Cabaniss:
Cleveland County Commission Chairman Jim Crawley; Sara Lee Intimate Apparel Vice President
of Distribution Cecil Moore; Cleveland County Economic Development Commission Chairman
David Ollis; Greenfield Builders Inc., President Jeffery Greenwalt; Sara Lee Intimate Apparel
Corp., CEO Charles Nesbit; Sara Lee Intimate Apparel Vice President Ron Chissenhall.
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