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v5 s 1 January 6, 2000 Herald/Times Page 3A TOP TEN Good Government. -" Republicans captured three of From 1A the seats, but Democrat Willie i ; McIntosh was the leading vote- area citizens, high-dollar con- getter. McIntosh and : struction projects in and around Republican Charlie Harry were Kings Mountain, elections, recreation, gambling, crime and fires. Judged the #3 story was the concern over the date of January 1, 2000, in which many feared sophisticated computer systems might read the year 2000 as 1900, crash and leave the world in chaos. Government agencies nation- wide spent tons of money and countless hours of employees’ time modifying their systems, checking and re-checking them, and then declaring they were “Y2K compatible.” As it turned out, no systems failed and only a few experi- enced minor problems and the world continued to turn. Kings Mountain and area folks continued to show their compassion in 1999 after Hurricane Floyd and follow-up floods almost completely de- stroyed the eastern part of the state. The day before the storm hit it was on a path that would di- rectly hit Kings Mountain, but several hours later veered to the east and didn’t present a single problem here. di But our good fortune turned out to be unfortunate for our eastern neighbors, many of whom lost their homes and had to rebuild their lives. In many if not most cases, they haven't re- covered yet. 34 But almost immediately after the storm passed through North Carolina, area citizens began re- lief efforts which resulted in a . number of tractor-trailer truck loads of food and other necessi- ties of life, as well as cash dona= tions which continue to pour in. The year also saw the city and area begin, and in many cases complete, massive build- ing projects which will prove beneficial economically down the road. In the city, a new $1.7 million dollar police department was completed and a new children’s wing at Mauney Memorial Library: was begun and is now near completion. © 7 The Kings Mountain Senior Center also completed a suc- cessful fund-raising effort to build a new $1.2 million facility on East King Street to be named in memory of the late Lawrence Patrick. Site preparation is un- der way and major construction will begin in the spring, hope- fully to be completed by the year’s end or early 2001. Also during the year, County Commissioners purchased land west of Kings Mountain for an Industrial Park, and Sara Lee : Intimate Apparels announced it would be the first tenant. Sara Lee is under construction now and will employ about 600. Area citizens also went to the polls to elect new leaders for the city, school board and coun- ty. . : A special election was held in January for the five seats on the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners, made neces- sary because of court rulings dealing with previous law suits by the NAACP and Citizens for ‘him the bank was closed ie shot through the doeor/striking '» "HAWKINS awarded four-year seats be- cause they were the top two vote-getters. Republicans Jim Crawley and Joe Cabaniss and Democrat Joe Hendrick won two-year terms. Kings Mountain City Council and the KM School Board took on some new faces who were elected in November and took office in December. Ward 5 Councilman Rick Murphrey was elected mayor, replacing Scott Neisler who did not run. Elected to the board were in- cumbents Bob Hayes, Gene White and Clavon Kelly, and newcomers Howard Shipp, Jim Guyton, Dean Spears and Carl DeVane. / Newcomer Stella Putnam led the ticket for the school board - and ousted longtime board , .. member Sonny Peeler. Shearra Miller was re-elected. Another big story coming out of City Hall occurred in July when the city contracted with the YMCA of Cleveland County to run the city recre- ation program. The YMCA is now located in the old Kings "Mountain Community Center and officially opened for mem- “bers on January 1. Gambling was a big story in the area in 1999. Both the Grover and Kings Mountain Town Councils turned down re- quests from gaming establish- ments just across the South Carolina state line from Grover to provide water to those facili- ties. Later in the year, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that video gambling was illegal and that the businesses would have to close by July 1, 2000. A plan by one casino to turn its business into nude dancing was dropped in December. The #9 story of the year was the attempted May robbery of First Charter Bank. An armed black man banged on the door one morning before bank hours, and when bank employee Libby Blanton went to the door to tell Mrs. Blanton. She was treated and released later that day from Kings Mountain Hospital. Rounding out the top ten stories of the year was the Christmas morning fire at the historic Saint Matthew's Lutheran Church in Kings ‘Mountain which resulted in over a quarter of a million dol- lars damage. The fire started in the old part of the building, which housed the fellowship - building and Sunday School rooms. Through the quick effort of Kings Mountain and Oak Grove firemen the fire was con- tained and did not spread into the sanctuary. CORRECTION The women’s swim team and the women’s soccer team were inadvertently omitted from the list of 1998 Southwestern 3A Conference champions at Kings Mountain High School in last week's Herald. : concerns ab BY ALAN HODGE Staff Writer The issue of school system merger once again raised its head at Tuesday’s meeting of the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners. The meeting got underway with acceptance of a new agreement between the County and the Shelby Rescue Squad, then moved on to approval of new members to the Cleveland County Board of Adjustments, Planning Board, Nursing Home Advisory Committee, and Child Fatality Review Team. Other items on the agenda Tuesday covered appointment of Kevin Myers to the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, and review of a dispute between Shelby developer James Heafner and the Cleveland County Health Department. When it came time for the Citizen Recognition portion of the meeting, Larry Corry of Shelby stepped to the podium and delivered an impassioned speech on the subject of how minority students in Cleveland County would be affected by school system merger. Attending with Corry were sev- eral other black leaders and over a dozen members of Palmer Grove Baptist Church in Kingstown. “We have serious concerns about how school merger will impact minorities in Cleveland County,” Corry said. “We haven't decided if we are for or against it, but want to be in- cluded in the decision making process. The need to improve the achievement and perfor- mance of all children in Cleveland County is a concern of all citizens.” Corry came armed not only with feelings, but with facts showing blacks lagging behind whites in many areas of educa- tion in Cleveland County. Corry’s charts illustrated that in Cleveland County for the pe- riod 1997-1998, End of Course Testing percent proficiency for high school blacks was 29 per- cent less than for other ethnic groups, Kings Mountain High School blacks were 28 percent less than other groups, and Shelby City black high school- ers were 35 percent behind. Other charts that Corry drew on to illustrate the concerns of the African American commu- nity regrading school merger “...the first item...is to provide equitable education...” -Jim Crawley Chairman showed that of 201 students en- rolled in advanced placement classes, 190 were white and just 11 were black. For Kings Mountain advance placement enrollment, the figures Corry gave commissioners were 89 whites, one black, and eight of other ethnic origin. “These figures capture the in- terest and concern of African American leaders and organiza- tions in the county,” Corry said. “There have been retreats and and conferences held locally wherein lack of education at- tainment and achievement has distressed many parents. The long term and continued under- achievement and performance gaps between African American students and other ethnic groups deeply concerns parents out merger and community leaders. Initiating discussion of merger without adequate consideration of those whom the system has failed is one step closer to defin- ing the solution before the prob- lem is stated.” Corry went on to outline nearly 20 specific grievances and concerns the black commu- nity has concerning discussions of and actual merger of schools should the event take place. “The challenge is to know those whom we have failed. To know the characteristics of all those we seek to impact with discussion of school system merger. To avoid the temptation to define the problem's solution before we have adequately stat- ed the need,” Corry said. In response to Corry’s pre- sentation, commission chair- man Jim Crawley assured ev- eryone present that the needs of minorities in Cleveland County was of major concern to com- missioners. “If you notice,” Crawley said, “the first item on our list of things to look at concerning merger is to provide equitable education and financial re- sources to support each child in Cleveland County.” vad a COMPUTERS From 1A sult, we had very little conges- tion.” Computer systems at area schools slid into the new age in smooth fashion. Kings Mountain School District super- intendent Bob McRae reported the good news. “We had no major problems, and nothing that would have kept us from operating.” McRae said. “There were a few prob- lems in older software, but it’s all been handled.” On the banking scene- one of the areas of the entire Y2K situ- ation that had people perspir- ing most of all- all of the banks in Kings Mountain reported smooth operations with no Y2K . problems in evidence. “”Everything was calm and collected at our bank,” said Ed Blackburn of First Citizens. “A few people came in and got fifty dollars or so extra cash, but there was no run on money.” BB&T also experienced a smooth Y2K transition. First Charter and Central Carolina Bank in Kings Mountain en- tered 2000 glitch-free as did First Union. : “Everything went great,” said First Union’s Dot Kelly. All in all, Y2K was like the big bad wolf who huffed and puffed, but didn’t blow any- one’s house down. Hand Picked In Antwerp Shop us if you're looking for a great buy on diamond jewelry. Diamonds direct from Antwerp, Belgium. Prices from $99.95 MASTER JJOJEWELERS ARNOLDY wh Jewelry & Gift Gallery 226 S. Washington St,, Shelby ¢ 487-4521 SCHOOL From 1A Hawkins said he looked for- ward to meeting with the attor- neys so each member of the Kings Mountain Board could give their side on what's hap- pened since commissioners cir- culated a letter on November 18 calling for a “merger assess- ment.” He again chastised the county board for the manner in which they made the merger is- sue public - through a letter to the Shelby Star rather than to IRN From 1A The recent school merger is- sue prompted Hawkins to file for the Board of Commissioners. He said he is against school merger but even if a forced merger occurs before he takes office he would still be a “champion” for the children of Cleveland County. He said his campaign plat- form will be twofold: opposing school merger and seeking dis- trict representation on the coun- ty board. “I have always been, and would always want to be a per- - son who would prefer to serve as a school board member,” said the 10-year KM School Board member. “My main interest in life has always been in working with children and helping them to the best of my ability. “But during the process of what I'm going to start calling the letter of November 18 (when Commissioners called for a merger assessment), I've basically been shown that com- missioners are handling this in a manner that I don’t think any government should handle its business. They should not be listening to one aspect of the community and trying to make such a large decision that affects . 50 many people.” Hawkins said a second part of his opposition to merger hap- pened when the County the three county boards of edu- cation. “If they would have just sent a copy to the boards of educa- tion saying that they were con- cerned and that we needed to get together and talk about it, we could have worked through this and come to some common ground,” he said. “The county commissioners, Kings Mountain School Board and Cleveland County School Board would not be paying out big money for lawyers, and we wouldn’t have all the anxiety and hard feelings that we're not going to be able to adjust to overnight. Honesfly, I thin £3 HAE (E00 Aue HoH OI Commissioners scheduled what was supposed to be a “dia- logue” with the county’s three school boards and turned it into a “monologue.” “I was really thankful that Willie McIntosh was willing to make a motion that we be given time to sit down as school board members and commis- sioners and discuss the issue, and it passed, but at the very same time a motion was made and passed that a lawyer be hired which further strength- ened the concept that there is some type of an agenda out there or this thing would not be speeding along as fast as it is,” Hawkins said. “I was apprecia- tive of Joe Hendricks in that he did do a little homework and had some questions that need to be answered, and could have been answered by board mem- bers and superintendents that were present if we had been in a situation where we could have sat around a table and dis- cussed the issues one by one.” Hawkins criticized commis- sioners for not passing district representation “when they had the opportunity several years ago.” “I think the part of equitable - distribution of the commission- ers or re-districting should have been implemented by them,” he said. “Even though they say they represent everyone, it’s still not the same if you don’t they now realize they made a mistake but they could come back right now and put a halt to it. We could start having some meetings, discuss each issue, compile information from all three systems and see if there's a possible way of keeping all three systems or having it put to a vote of the public. I think then they would be doing what they were put in office to do.” Hawkins said he has had nu- merous calls from other areas of - the county since he filed for County Commissioner Monday. “They wanted to let me know that they stand with me in the sense that the county has treat- Galhnk SHEMNIENERIM SNE 1 PRE Lis AED have someone from your area that you know and can call. If we do get into a situation where the county commissioners force a merger, we are going to need someone on the board that will champion the public schools. The needs of the kids are still going to be there. We need to make sure that we have facili- ties for our kids, and we need to make sure that those facilities are the best we can possibly give to them. You can’t take a look at what is needed in the county and then just sit on it. “I have a strong feeling that however the merger issue turns out, that an awareness has tak- en place across the county and that people are going to have to be more involved in their gov- ernment and demand that the government be more open to all the issues. I think we just can’t go into another situation like this merger situation. People should be educated enough to be able to do their homework and study all of the issues, lis- ten to the people and then make "a good, correct decision.” Hawkins said he feels the trend nationwide will be to smaller school systems and smaller classrooms. ed this in an improper manner. This is just going to tear the community apart.” Meanwhile, Supt. McRae said he had received a memo from the law firm hired by the County Commissioners asking that any information that the system wants considered in the merger issue should be provid- ed by January 11. The County Manager and the superintendents from the three systems met Wednesday morn- ing to prepare an agenda for the January 25 public forum on merger which was approved at last month’s meeting of the County Commissioners. “Just because the state has a hundred counties that doesn’t mean there has to be a hundred school systems,” he said. “I think Governor Hunt was right on target when he said we're doing everything we can to pre- pare our children for the work- place and reduce class sizes. If reducing classroom sizes is im- portant then that means to me that one on one relationship is good, and it means that the lo- cal community can work a lot better if they can work with lo- cal boards of education rather than one big group. Members of the Cleveland County School Board say they are hard-pressed just to get around to the num- ber of schools they have, and we in Kings Mountain are hard pressed just to get around to the number of schools we have. The people of Kings Mountain have ‘spoken out and I hope the peo- ple of Cleveland County will speak out. What they want is a smaller local government and to be able to see and hear and be able to speak with their board members. They would al- so probably want to be able to speak one on one with county commissioners, but sometimes you feel like what you're saying is falling on deaf ears.” erald SC Published every Thursday Periodicals postage at Shelby, NC 28150 USPS 118-880 by Republic Newspapers, Inc. Postmaster, send address changes to: P. O. Box 769, Kings Mountain, NC 28086 Phone (704) 481-8202 © Fax (704) 739-0611 Office: 824-1 East King Street ® Kings Mountain, NC 28086 Mike Blanton Publisher Gary Stewart Editor Alan Hodge Staff Writer Stacy Godfrey Kale........oecoummssersinsees eoprareseses Advertising Manager Shelley Campbell.........ccccoounecnn veeviestrssmesresniss Composition Manager Mail Subscription Rates Payable in Advance. All Prices include 6% NC State Sales Tax. 1 Year 6 Months Gaston & Cleveland County $21.20 $13.78 Other NC Counties $22.26 $14.84 Outside NC $26.50 $16.43 Re Republic A Newspapers, Inc. Vert Assocunion 40 + Nor Cao Press Asctin
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Jan. 6, 2000, edition 1
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