Thursday, January 27, 2000
KINGS MOUNTAI
Vol. 112 No. 04
Since 1889
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5A
KM Council
votes to keep
animal control
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
City Council Tuesday night
voted 4-3 not to accept City
Manager Jimmy Maney’s
recommendation to contract out
its animal control with
Cleveland County.
New Councilman Carl
DeVane made a motion to con- -
tract the services with the coun-
ty at a cost of $46,126; or $50,000
if the county provided the ani-
mal control vehicle. New
Councilman Dean Spears sec-
onded the motion, but the only
councilman to side with them
was Jim Guyton. Bob Hayes,
Howard Shipp, Gene White and
Clavon Kelly voted against it.
Maney, who estimated a con-
tract with the county would
save the city money and pro-
vide better services, said he
would try to develop a plan to
reorganize the city’s animal
control services and include it
in pre-budget workshops but
estimated it could cost “$80,000
to $100,000” a year.
In a memo to Council, Maney
said “a total reorganization of
the department will have to oc-
cur in order to provide animal
control properly as mandated
by ordinance and statute.” He
pointed out that Kings
Mountain is the only city in
Cleveland, Rutherford, Gaston,
Lincoln and Mecklenburg coun-
ties that handles its own animal
control. Maney had suggested a
three-year contract with a 90-
day “out clause” by either party
Concerns over the rabies epi-
demic in Cleveland County and
surrounding areas, limited staff
(Kings Mountain funds only 1
- 1/2 positions in animal control),
lack of 24-hour, seven-day per
week service, supervision,
training of animal control offi-
cers, equipment, uniforms and
other matters prompted the re-
quest.
Maney said the county is bet-
ter able to provide the services
because they already have all of
those services in place. He said
County Health Director Denese
Stallings had indicated
Cleveland County Animal
Control would provide officers
who would give the city cover-
age “86 percent” of the time.
Maney and several Council |
members pointed out that
Kings Mountain has not done a
good job of animal control in
the past. One citizen, Sidney
Blanton of 907 First Street, had
appeared before the Council
earlier during the Citizens
Comments portion of the meet-
ing to complain about stray
dogs in his community and un-
successful attempts on his part
to get the city to do anything
about them. ! ]
“The cost of providing this
service is going up,” Maney
said. “Animal control should be
animal control. There are cer--
tain situations that we are man-
dated by law to take care of.”
Councilman Hayes, who was
on the KM Police Force for 36
years, said the city relinquished
animal control to the county in
the 1960s and had to take it
back because of slow response
time. He wanted to know
“where do we draw the line
when it comes to giving away
our services to Cleveland
County,” noting that tax collec-
tions and the handling of city
elections had been previously
contracted out to the county,
that the Chamber of Commerce
was “dismantled and turned
over to CLeveland County, and
that “we gave up our
Community Center to
Cleveland County.”
“1 believe we should keep our
animal control officer here in
See Animal, 3A
SA i
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hells
GIN]
BANK
.
.
Merger ‘go’ or ‘no
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Hundreds of folks braved an
icy Tuesday evening to hear the
Cleveland County Board of
Commissioners and representa-
tives from all three Cleveland
County school boards discuss
their ongoing system merger
debate. The question of exactly
what is fueling the commission-
er’s interest in merging the
Kings Mountain, Shelby City,
and Cleveland County school
systems came up again and
again during the two-hour ses-
sion.
The meeting got under way
with a presentation by Gil
Middlebrooks- the attorney that
commissioners hired to look in-
to the legal ramifications of
merger. Middlebrooks gave his
opinion that mid to late
February would mark the days
when a “go” or “no go” deci-
sion on merger would have to
be reached. Middlebrooks also
stated that if commissioners de-
cided to go ahead with merger,
then a plan must be drafted by
early March and public hear-
ings scheduled.
After Middlebrooks’ presen-
tation, commission chairman
Jim Crawley gave several rea-
sons that merger has come un-
der consideration.
“Education plays a pervasive
role in the economic and social
fabric of our county,” Crawley
said. “The county needs a con-
stant infusion of skilled work-
ers.’
Crawley cited examples of
where foreign companies and
real estate firms were taking
hard looks at what type of stu-
dents were being graduated
from schools in the county.
Picking up the ball where
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Employees of the Kings Mountain Water Department work to locate a leak under Business Highway 74 at Oriental Avenue
Tuesday afternoon. According to Water Director Walt Ollis, the leak apparently was underneath Oriental or farther down King
Street and coming out at the i
Snow blankets Cleveland County
i BY ALAN HODGE
: Staff Writer
After dodging the snow bul-
i let twice this winter, Kings
i Mountain, Cleveland County,
i and the rest of the Piedmont
.
.
i got two direct hits Saturday and
i Monday. While Saturday’s
i snow was predicted accurately
i by meteorologists, Monday's
i mini-blizzard took even the
: weatherman by surprise.
Friday night and Saturday
: morning saw at least five inch-
i es of dry powder hit lawns and
i roads across the region. After a
: partly cloudy and cold Sunday
: that brought little in the way of
ABC Store opens,
reports ‘99 profits
i By GARY STEWART
: Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain's ABC Store
: is back in operation but City
¢ Council Tuesday night passed a
i moratorium on future appoint-
i ments to the Board until it re-
ssccccssces
ose
ceives notification from the
State ABC Board that the store
is being properly operated.
Citing a letter from the State
ABC Board on January 18
which “outlined a litany of un-
acceptable practices and good
old boy politics,” Councilman
Gene White made a motion to
impose the temporary morato-
rium. He did, however, add that
the current Kings Mountain
ABC Board and management
“inherited these problems.”
Council did not reappoint
i Mary Hillman, whose term is
expiring, and Chairman Tim
! Moore said the Board can func-
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
ntersection.
melting, snow returned with a
vengeance beginning Monday
morning and continuing until
early in the evening. Total ac-
cumulations of up to eight inch-
es were recorded in some spots
in Cleveland County. Places to
the east got up to a foot of
SNOW.
The wintry weather brought
with it the usual problems. The
North Carolina State Highway
Patrol reported a total of 63
wrecks in Cleveland County
from Saturday morning until
Monday night. Most were mi-
nor accidents, due to skids, but
at least one near Charles Road
resulted in injury. A pedestrian
tion well with just four mem-
bers until the moratorium is lift-
ed. White also suggested that
Mayor Rick Murphrey appoint
a committee to work with the
ABC Board to ensure term lim-
its for board members.
* Councilman Howard Shipp
seconded White's motion for
the moratorium, and
Councilmen Clavon Kelly and
Jim Guyton voted with them.
Bob Hayes, Dean Spears and
Carl DeVane voted against it.
Meanwhile, Moore said the
ABC Store is operated efficient-
ly and has already addressed
most of the concerns of the State
ABC Board. He also reported
that distribution of ABC Store
profits have “almost doubled”
in the past two years.
Moore noted that in 1997 the
city received, $13,190 of the
See ABC Store, 4A
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
Celebrating 125 Years
739-4782
was also struck near Waco by a
skidding car.
Cleveland County EMS train-
ing officer Louis Jenkins report-
ed that his crews were kept on
the go all weekend with ice-re-
lated injuries. tir
“We had to put a lot of our
regular calls on hold for slips
and falls,” Jenkins said. “Our
crews worked around the clock -
as well. One crew member
worked 90 hours straight.”
Jenkins said that several cases
had to be transported to
Charlotte.
The Kings Mountain Police
Department had a fairly easy
time with the snow.
Gastonia
529 New Hope Rd.
865-1233
“Most people stayed at
home,” Capt. Houston Corn
said. “There were no wrecks in
the city and things went
smoothly.”
Kings Mountain also escaped
the devastation and power out-
ages that hit South Carolina and
other areas of North Carolina
with such force. Nick Hendricks
with the Kings Mountain utility
department reported only one
small power outage on E.
Parker Street.
“We had a few sporadic calls
about snow bending limbs
down on lines,” Hendricks said.
See Snow, 3A
Shelby
106 S. Lafayette St.
484-6200
go’ by March
Crawley left off, each commis-
sioner gave a brief report on
some aspect of merger. Joe
Cabaniss looked at the ques-
tion of facilities and how merg-
er would affect the construction
of new schools. Joe Hendrick
explained funding of schools
and how merger would help a
unified system pass bonds for
new construction. Charlie
See Merger, 5A
Maney
voted
bonus
By GARY STEWART
* Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain City
Manager Jimmy Maney was
evaluated by City Council in
closed session Tuesday night,
and afterward, in lieu of a raise,
Council voted him bonuses and
retroactive pay worth over
$4,000.
At-Large Councilman Bob
Hayes cast the lone dissenting
vote. Gene White made the mo-
tion and Carl DeVane seconded.
Maney, who hadn’t been
evaluated since September
1998, was given a $3,000 bonus
and retroactive pay of $1,050.
He was voted a supplemental
retirement of 3% of his yearly
income, and Council agreed to
pay his dependents’ medical in-
surance which will amount to
approximately $18 a week.
Maney’s base salary is
$62,088. His next review is
scheduled for September 2000.
In another matter Tuesday
night, Council held a public
hearing and heard a report from
Water System Director Walt
Ollis on a report on use of haz-
ardous materials the city must
file with the government to
comply with the 1990 Clean Air
Act.
According to Ollis, the city
uses chlorine at the T.J. Ellison
Water Plant, and chlorine and
sulfur dioxide at the Pilot Creek
Wastewater Treatment Plant.
He said public hearings are
required to make the public
aware of conditions at the sites
and how the city handles the
chemicals.
Ollis noted that the city has
had only one minor incident in-
See Maney, 3A
bd pent
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
The Kings Mountain ABC Store reopened for business Tuesday morning. Joining store manager
Jerry Mullinax (left) for the occasion was Morganton ABC Board member Gary Harding.
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
629-3906
Member FDIC