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Thursday, October 21, 1999
Vol. 111 No. 42
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WHAT'S
HAPPENING
Kings Mountain native
Calvin Edwards, who now lives
in Japan, will present a jazz con-
cert Saturday at 5:30 p.m. a the
new gazebo at the corner of
West Gold Street and Railroad
Avenue.
SPORTS
NFL star Kevin Mack
returns to hometown
Former Kings Mountain
High, Clemson University and
Cleveland Browns star running
back Kevin Mack was in town
Friday night to escort his
daughter, Roxanne Brown, in
homecoming festivities at John
Gamble Stadium. 1B =
Mountaineers, East
in big game Friday
Kings Mountain's
Mountaineers face a must win
situation when they travel to
~ East Rutherford for a key
Southwestern 3A Conference
matchup Friday. 1B
BUSINESS
Alexander Park
is officially open
Alexander Business Park in
Kings Mountain officially
opened with a ribbon cutting
ceremony Thursday. 8A
Timms Furniture
planning expansion
Timms Furniture of Kings
Mountain is clearing land for a
major expansion on Grover
Road. 9A
New Eckerd’s open
in Kings Mountain
The new Eckerd Drug Store is
open for business at the inter- .
section of King Street and
Cleveland Avenue. 9A
SENS
PEOPLE =
Lib Stewart gets
Long Leaf Pine award
Kings Mountain's Lib Stewart
received the state’s highest hon-
or - the Order of the Long Leaf
Pine - at homecoming festivities
honoring her as National
President of the American
Legion Auxiliary. 3A
Oe
OC
YOUR
HOMETOWN
[7
BY ALAN HODGE
| Staff Writer
Video poker was given a
poke in the eye last Thursday
when the S.C. Supreme Court
ruled that a scheduled
November 2 referendum on the
industry was unconstitutional.
- The 5-0 decision by the justices
effectively spelled doom for the
$2.8 billion video gaming in-
dustry. Adding salt to the video
gaming wound is the fact that
businesses will be left holding
i over 36,000 video game in ma-
chines. Governor Jim Hodges
declared that “video gaming
A Losing
| Supreme Court decision dooms
will no longer exist in South
Carolina.”
One of the hottest video gam-
ing spots is just across the state
line from Grover at the U.S. 29
and I-85 interchange where no
less than ten casinos are located.
Like neighbors who barely get
along, the casinos and their
bright lights contrast sharply
with Grover’s small town de-
meanor. Earlier this year, casino
operators had petitioned
Grover for water and sewer ser-
vice, including a pipeline exten-
sion, but were turned down.
Like many controversial sub-
jects, the topic of video gaming
. Heather Wright of the Kings Mountain High band performs for th
‘town gazebo during Mountaineer Days celebration Thursday. Jazz musician Calvin Edwards of
Japan will perform at the gazebo Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
ing in a car wreck that could
have cost her her life, 16-year-
old Jessica Detter of Kings
Mountain is home and doing
well. * Co
It will still be awhile before
she rejoins her classmates at
Kings Mountain High School
eral weeks of extensive therapy,
but her mother, Trudy Detter,
says Jessica is improving every
day. ;
“She’s doing remarkable,”
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Less than two weeks after be-
because she has to undergo sev-
Jessie Detter home,
improving from wreck
Mrs. Detter said after bringing
Jessica home from Carolinas
Medical Center Monday. “It’s
just amazing. God has just kept -
His hand on her and she gets
stronger every day.”
Jessica lost control of her car
on Saturday night, Oct. 9, over-
turned several times and land-
ed in a creek on State Road 1001
between Bethware and Four
Points. She was in a coma until
the following Monday with in-
juries to her head and back.
Miraculously, all the tests
made on her back came back
negative. However, the head in-
See Detter, 3A
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
NR
739-4781
raises strong opinions. For their
part, video gaming proponents
say the industry brings jobs and
tax revenue to the communities
where the'parlors are located.
Opponents on the other hand,
claim that video gaming can
become an addiction and takes
family money away from chil-
dren.
Thoughts on video gaming
are varied in Grover. Though
most people seem to think the
casinos across the border have
brought problems such as in-
creased traffic and all night go-
ings on, other folks see the casi-
nos as a source of legitimate
: Mountaineer Days
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
e opening of the new down-
income.
Lori Naylor of Antioch
. doesn’t live in Grover per se,
but comes to town nearly every
day.
“I don’t go to the video par-
lors myself, but it’s good that
they are going to close down,”
Naylor said. “I only worry
about what will come when
they stop the gaming business.
A man told my father that they
would put barrooms in the casi-
no buildings.”
Grover firefighter Steven
Richardson said he had been in-
side of a video gaming casino
before, but didn’t play any of
Hand
S.C. game establishments
the games.
“When they close down, it
will create a lot of unemploy-
ment,” said Richardson. “I
heard each casino employs 30
workers per shift. It’s not like
the casino owners are pushing
the games down anyone's
throat. If people want to play
video poker, theyll find a way
to do it.”
Grover retiree J.D. Bolin
minced few words when it
came to how he felt about the
video poker casinos.
“I'm 100 percent against
See Poker, 3A
Cleanup of King
iS a city priority
By GARY STEWART,
Editor of The Herald
The City of Kings Mountain
is putting some teeth into its
clean-up ordinances, hoping
that King Street will soon be-
come a gateway to Cleveland
County and not an eyesore.
Local businessman Mike
Heath loves that idea and plans
to do all he can to make it a re-
ality: ;
Heath recently purchased the
old Pure Oil Station and Kin
Mountain Bus Station at the
corner of West King and
Battleground Avenue. He has
already demolished the Pure
Oil Station, which most recently
served as a car wash, and in six
weeks he plans to raze the old
bus station which at present
houses a tanning salon.
Heath is not sure at present
what he will put on the site, but
whatever it is he says it will be
something Kings Mountain will
be proud of.
“It’s kind of up for grabs
right now,” he said. “We're just
now putting our heads togeth-
”
er.
City Manager Jimmy Maney
said the old Carquest building
on East King is also under order
for demolition, and if that prop-
erty is not demolished soon by
the owner the city will pursue
“demolition or condemnation,
or whatever we have to do to
clean that up.” :
Maney said the city had been
working with the previous
owner of the old Pure Oil
Station for six months to get
that property cleaned up. The
former owner was given an
Tommy Willis operates a front end loader that was used to help demolish the old Pure Oil station
October 1 deadline to clean up
the property.
“The property was sold to
Mr. Heath prior to that and his
intentions were to clean it up
anyway,” Maney said. “He's
doing a good job up there.”
Maney said there are many
other buildings in town that are
targeted by the city, and if the
owners don’t bring them up to
codes the city will.
“We're putting teeth into our
ordinances,” he said. “When
you start talking condemnation
you have to work through the
legal framework of the law and
make sure you're abiding by the
statutes. You can’t just go in and
take someone's property just
because you think it looks bad.”
Maney said the remains of
the old hotel across from The
Herald and adjacent to the site
for the new Kings Mountain
Senior Center, is also targeted
for cleanup.
“We're going to be pursuing
either clean-up of the property,
or we'll clean it up and attach a
lien to it,” he said.
“We're going to move on
clean-up,” he added. “We're go-
ing to be very aggressive. I feel
like we have been but we're go-
ing to make sure that when the
property owners tell the city
they're going to do something,
they're going to do it.
“There are other properties
that we're going after next. If
you're on King Street, or any
other street, if the residence or
the business establishment is
beyond repair, the city is going
after demolition at the owner’s
expense.”
on King Street in Kings Mountain. The station came down to make room for a new business.
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