Thursday, August 5, 1999
Vol. 111 No. 31
Since 1889
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KINGS MOUNTAIN
erald
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50 Cents
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Canterbury
annexation
plan still
probable
City Manager says
sewer issue not as
big as first reported
By ELIZABETH STEWART
The Herald
=
The largest annexation in the
city’s history is still a live issue
and a special work session will
be held August 16 at 6:30 p.m.
by City Council to hear a re-
vised version of the services
plan for providing sewer ser-
vice to much
were
men face dr
Three Kings Mountain men
ested on drug charges
Friday following a one-month
‘long undercover operation by
the Cleveland County Sheriff's
Department.
According to Sheriff Dan
Crawford, the operation cen-
tered on the illegal sale of
crack cocaine in the area of
Wave Road, east of Shelby.
Twelve arrest warrants were
served on the three individu-
als, consisting of 24 felony
drug charges.
Arrested were Calvin
Bernard Sanders, 109 Wave
Road, lot #2, Kings Mountain,
possession with intent to sale
and deliver crack cocaine (four
counts), and sale and delivery
of crack cocaine (four counts);
Michael Womic, 111 Kermit
Drive, Kings Mountain, pos-
er
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eseessssesssessssasnsssssssestesesens
ug charges
session with intent to sale and
deliver crack cocaine (five
counts) and sale and delivery
of crack cocaine (five counts);
and Anthony Bernard Womic,
109 Wave Road lot #4, Kings
Mountain, possession with in-
‘tent to sale and deliver crack
cocaine (three counts) and sale
and delivery of crack cocaine
(three counts).
Sheriff Crawford said this
was the first round of arrests
and more arrests are expected.
Three file
for Council
at-large seat
A contest has developed for the two at-large
seats open on the Kings Mountain City Council.
of the area. With the filing deadline Friday at noon, two
§ incumbent city councilmen, [ W :
Council Rel ated 8 a former city councilmen
plans to take and a former city public
the final vote Story works employee are running |
at the regu- : for the Lik at-large seats up iC
lar meetin or grabs. .
August 3at Page Bill Grissom, who served :
7:30 p.m. at 4A as Ward 5 commissioner :
city hall. during the Moss administra- :
CE tion, filed Tuesday afternoon ]
By vote of 5-2, Council
tabled action last week while
Beachmark consultant Richard
Flowe and city staff revisit the
proposal which at first includ-
ed a optional city maintenance
plan.
City Manager Jimmy Maney
said most areas already have
collector lines in place and the
city is looking at not having
septic tank maintenance except
in'one place, just off Quality
Lane. Maney said the revision
would cost the city less than
$100,000 not the original con-
struction estimate of $2.7 mil-
lion.
State annexation law calls
for providing all city services
to acquired areas within two
years. A modification last year
allows the septic tank mainte-
nance option to be used tem-
porarily in cases of unique to-
pography. Flowe said the area
would qualify. Several council
“members have questioned the
alternative plan.
The annexation, if approved,
wotild take place June 30, 2000.
Taking in the 2,300 acres
would increase the city’s area
by half, raising its square
mileage from 6.8 to 10.5. The
net annual income for the city
would be about $152,000.
Councilmen Bob Hayes and
Jerry Mullinax opposed the de-
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ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
Looking for a cool spot, Sam Jones found this bench in the shade a comfortable resting place. With temperatures
near 100 degrees recently, the weatherman’s forecast of cooler weather had Jones and most other folks breath-
ing a sigh of relief.
SUMMER
Power kayoed in several areas
\
but KM spared major damage
The heat wave gripping the na-
tion has sent power bills spiral-
ing with high usage of electricity
but fortunately for Kings
near northeast Grover. Traffic
was rerouted onto U.S 29
through Grover at the Dixon
School exit. No cars were hit by
Mountain area residents there
were no heat-related incidents.
Two summer storms caused by
high humidity Saturday and
Sunday night felled trees and
power was out several hours in
isolated areas of the high school
area, Country Creek and Second
Street areas. Director of Utilities
Nick Hendricks said lightning hit
a power line and high winds
knocked limbs from trees and in-
to the lines.
Sunday, two large poplar trees
were blown down on I-85 by a
severe thunderstorm. The trees
blocked both lanes of south-
bound traffic near mile marker 4,
the trees which fell around 4:30
p-m. in heavy rain.
The weatherman was forecast-
ing a break in the weather for the
rest of the week. This past month
has seen 17 consecutive days of
90 degree plus temperatures and
for the month of July there was
23 days of 90 plus degree temper-
atures as a whole. July also saw
12 days of triple digit tempera-
tures.
Hendricks said the city’s elec-
trical system topped 95 percent
capacity on peak usage days,
within 5 percent of rotating a
brown out or black out.
“The new high usage was the
result of customer usage when
customers were running every
kind of air they had to keep cool
in this blistering heat,” he said.
City Manager Jimmy Maney
said the city set a record in elec-
trical usage in July. “And it’s not
just the City of Kings Mountain,
it’s electrical systems across the
nation.”
Duke Power Company also re-
ported high usage.
The City of Kings Mountain
operates two delivery stations.
Last July on Delivery 3 the city
recorded a high of 16,500 kilo-
watts compared to this July when
the city recorded a high of 18,400
kilowatts, an increase of 1,900
kilowatts.
for an at-large seat. BOB HAYES
First term at-large council-
man Bob Hayes, retired city police chief, and
Ward 4 councilman Gene White, retired city
planning director, filed Wednesday afternoon
for the two at-large seats open in November.
Franklin Brackett has also filed for the at-large
seat.
In Grover, Robert L. Hunt filed for a four-
year term on the town board. Up for grabs in
Grover are two four-year council seats, one
two-year council seat and the mayor's four
year-term,
To date, 13 people seek the-eight seats open at
city hall, three people seek the two seats open
on the Kings Mountain Board of Education, and
- one person seeks one of the four seats open on
Grover Town Board.
Both Hayes and White point to their record of
long service with the city
And although they support some of the same
projects they differ in their opinion on annexa-
tion.
Hayes says he is against the city’s current ser-
vices plan to expand a 10-acre residential area
along Linwood Road and the 2,300 plus acres of
mixed commercial and residential land south of
the city.
See Council, 3A
BILL GRISSOM GENE WHITE
lay but Mullinax’s motion to
stop the annexation altogether
failed 5-2.
New Senior Center well on way to goal
ject and the steering group has
received a $100,000 grant from
the State Department on Aging.
Citizen contributions will ac-
count for the rest of the money.
Since its beginning in 1975,
the KM Senior Center has
Mayor Scott Neisler, pro-
moting the annexation as a
protective measure, callsan-
nexation a new market for ex-
pansion of the city’s utility .
sales.
By Jim Heffner
The steering committee for
the new Kings Mountain Senior
Life and Conference Center has
announced that $776,000 of the
projected goal of $1.2 million
The mayor has said in recent :
meetings that if successful the
move by Kings Mountain will
buffer against Gastonia’s en- has been raised. served as a focal point of the
croachment from the east. If everything goes as fastest growing segment of the
planned, all funds will be raised =~ county's population, senior citi-
Jim Belt, Canterbury Road by the end of September and zens. :
resident and chairman of the construction may begin before The present center, located in
city’s planning and zoning ~~ i the year is out. the old depot, is becoming too -
board, said he is 100 percent in The new 15,000 square foot small to accommodate the i
owing senior population.
“We need the added room,”
said director of aging Monty
Thornburg. “We are cramped
now and the new building will
be a big plus for us. There have
been times when we've had as
many as 300 people at one time,
waiting for flu shots for exam-
ple. Total chaos reigns when
See Center, 3A
facility will be situated on seven
and a half acres directly across
from the Herald office building.
“That's our plan, but we still
have a ways to go,” project di-
rector Carl Elliott said during a
Wednesday meeting. “We're
making good progress and we
have momentum.”
The City of Kings Mountain
will fund 50 percent of the pro-
favor of annexation and that
the majority of his neighbors
along this stretch of road are in :
favor. “I think there are two
people along Canterbury Road
who don’t support annexation
but I believe the man on the
street thinks this is a progres-
sive step by the city.”
Five members of the Senior Center Steering Committee display architectural drawings for the
new Senior Life and Conference Center. They are, L-R: Charles Mauney, Monty Thornburg, Jim
Belt, Stella Putnam and John Harris. The group announced a goal of $1.2 million for construc-
tion of the new facility at a meeting last Wednesday.
Sp lle
Shelby
Main Othice
106 S. Lafayette St.
484-6200
(PIII P
529 New Hope Rd.
CREE RE
Kings Mountain
FIRST NATIONAL BANK SOON Nountaim St
WAT A Suis
Member FDIC