Thursday, February 17, 2000
KINGS MOUNTAIN
Vol. 112 No. 07
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BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Several medical offices are on
the move in Kings Mountain.
Not only that, but a new one is
going up that will be tied in
with Kings Mountain Hospital,
and yet another new medical
office is in the planning stages.
Motorists who regularly
drive by the corner of King and
Watterson Streets in Kings
Mountain have no doubt no-
ticed the old house that once oc-
cupied the spot has become a
large hole in the ground. What's
slated to fill that hole is a multi-
story medical office building.
Scheduled to be completed :
sometime in early July, the :
25,000 sq. ft. office is owned by :
Metrolina Surgery physicians
Drs. Augustine Eze and Obinna
Eruchalu. The property is being
developed by Bracket Co. and
will be three stories tall when
completed. The facility will be
called E&E Plaza.
Plans are to rent the top floor
of the building and have
Metrolina Surgery occupy the
second floor. The first floor will
be leased by Kings Mountain
Hospital.
“We plan to sub-lease the first
floor offices as a place for medi-
cal specialists to come into town
: and use for a day or two,” said
Kings Mountain Hospital direc-
tor Hank Neal.
Also in the Kings Mountain
medical future is a plan by Dr.
Steven Chamberlain of Shelby
See Doctor, 3A
County to
take over
Grover zoning |
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Representatives from the
town of Grover got their wish
when the Cleveland County
Board of Commissioners voted
Tuesday night to allow the
County to take over Grover’s
development ordinance. Bill
McCarter, Cleveland County
Planning Director, presented
Grover’s case to the commis-
sioners.
“Grover took the develop-
ment ordinance the County had
in 1992,” McCarter told com-
missioners. “The two ordi-
nances are very similar. Grover
also charges a $25 fee for a zon-
ing permit. If you would like to
continue to collect this fee, we
can add it to each building per-
mit issued in the town limits.”
Representatives from Grover
at Tuesday's meeting included
mayor Bill Favell, and town
council members Max Rollins
and Jack Herndon.
Also on Tuesday’s agenda a
motion was passed to have
commissioner Charley Harry's
salary donated to charitable :
causes. At Harry's request, the
compensation he would receive :
in the year 2000 will be divided
equally among three organiza-
tions. The groups include the
Abuse Prevention Council,
Youth Assistance Program, and
Brothers in Christ Outreach
Ministries, Inc.
With the Year 2000 Census :
just a few weeks away, commis-
sioners approved a resolution
committing Cleveland County
to accomplishing a goal of a
more accurate and cost efficient
census count. Commissioners
also approved a roster from the
Census Complete Count
Committee that listed represen-
tatives from each community in
See Grover, 3A
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HOMETOWN
LV 1S
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
There's a new adult day care
facility in the works for Kings
Mountain and Grover. Slated to
be the second site for the Life
Enrichment Center of
Cleveland County, the pro-
posed center will be located on
the section of Dixon School
Road that will eventually con-
Citizens
commissioner
earful on merger
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Cleveland County
Commissioner Willie B.
McIntosh brought his “listening
tour” to Kings Mountain's
Barnes Auditorium Saturday
night to get local response on
the proposed merger of the
county’s three school systems,
and he got an earful.
None of the 100-plus persons
who attended spoke in favor of
merger. When Grover School
nect Highway 74 Business and
Interstate 85.
To be called the “Kings
Mountain-Grover Location,”
the planned adult day care cen-
ter will be between 11,000 and
12,000 square feet in size. The
structure will sit on 14 acres re-
cently purchased by the Life
Enrichment Center from M.P.B.
Development Corporation. The
asking price for the land was
give
merger, everybody in the audi-
ence held their hands high.
Although McIntosh admitted
that residents of the county are
“overwhelmingly” against
merger, he declined to go along
with the wishes of the Kings
Mountain people to call a halt
to the merger assessment.
McIntosh said he will vote his |
conscience and will listen to the
concerns of the people, but
added that the assessment
needs to be completed so a deci- |
sion on merger can be made
“once and for all.”
$8,500 an acre.
“The land deal was finalized
Monday,” said Tom Brooks,
chairman of the advisory board
and long-range planning com-
mittee for Life Enrichment
Center. “The surveying is com-
pleted as well. Now we have to
sit down with our architect and
come up with an actual draw-
ing of the building.”
Brooks estimated that ground
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 126 Yeare
parent Kathy Falls asked for a
show of hands in opposition to
See Willie, 3A
Adult day care coming
breaking for the center will not
take place for at least a year. He
also feels that it will be two
years before the center is ready
for operation. The project will
not be put on hold for the sec-
ond phase of the Grover-Kings
Mountain connector road to be
completed.
“We are gong to go ahead
with our plans before the road
is finished in 2003,” said
Commissioner
Willie Mcintosh, top
photo, listens as
Ron Humphries of
Kings Mountain,
left, speaks during
Mcintosh’s “listen-
ing tour” meeting on
school merger
Saturday at B.N.
Barnes Auditorium.
Mcintosh said he
would take serious-
ly the concerns of
citizens but would
wait and see the re-
sults of the merger
assessment before
making up his mind
on how he will vote
if the issue comes
to that point.
GARY STEWART /
THE HERALD
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Members of the Kings Mountain Historical
Landmarks Commission met recently to discuss
the future of the town’s past. Headed up by Mary
Neisler, the group worked on plans for the up-
coming Home Tour, got an update on their
National Trust Application, and shared ideas on
ways that Kings Mountain could join the North
Carolina Main Street program.
Ramrodded by Shirley Brutko and Margaret
Pearson, the Kings Mountain Tour of Homes will
be a highlight of the coming spring season. Slated
for May 6, the tour will feature six historic homes
and structures in the city. :
“We're extremely excited about the tour,” said
Brutko. “All proceeds from it will stay in Kings
Mountain for the purpose of historic preserva-
tion.”
Tickets for the tour will be $10 and include a
light lunch at the Kings Mountain Woman's Club.
Though they didn’t make any definite choices,
Historic Commission members also took time
during their planning session to consider what
type of signage would appear on homes in the
proposed historic district. The district is in the
area of town surrounding Central School. Neisler
presented commission members with two cata-
logues from companies that specialize in plaques
739-4782
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
Landmark Committee makes plans
for historic areas.
“Every house in the district will be eligible for a
plaque,” Neisler said.
Companies currently under consideration for
the signage contract include Healy Brothers of
Manville, Rhode Island, and Erie Landmark Co.
from Chantilly, Virginia. Other firms in the same
type of business are also welcome to submit their
product and price lists.
The meeting also saw commission members get
an update on their application for the Central
School Historic District. Neisler said that the
group should get word on their application some-
time in early July.
Besides historic district business, the commis-
~ sion heard from Tripp Hord concerning the pos-
sibility of Kings Mountain joining the North
Carolina Main Street program. Dating back to
1980, the program is part of the Department of
Commerce, Division of Community Assistance.
The NCMSC assists communities in developing
a local program to manage the process of revital-
ization and helps them to develop a community
based vision for action. Hord is setting up an or-
ganization for the promotion and design of
downtown Kings Mountain. Plans for downtown
could include lar:dscaping of the railroad tracks
and restoration of the old overhead railroad
bridge and replace ment of its current lights with
more historically cer ect ones.
Gastonia
529 New Hope Rd.
865-1233
to KM
Brooks. “When the highway is
completed, that will make it a
straight shot to the center from
Grover as well as Kings
Mountain.”
One more step towards see-
ing the project get underway
was taken recently when the 14
acres was given a condition use
rezoning approval. The proper-
See Center, 3A
Boards hold
joint meeting
on merger
Hoping to head off a merger,
Cleveland County's three
school boards met in a special
joint session last night at
Cleveland County Office
Building to discuss how they
can combine efforts for better
educational opportunities for
all students in the county.
Although the meeting was
held past The Herald's press
time, members of the Kings
Mountain Board of Education
expressed hope that the meet-
ing would be just the first of
many that will continue for
years to come.
“It’s a good opportunity for
the boards to sit down together
in public so the people can see
what's happening,” said Ronnie
Hawkins, a 10-year veteran of
the board who is running for
Cleveland County
‘Commissioner in the wake of
the commissioners’ assessment
of a possible merger.
“It’s a good thing to get to-
gether once or twice a year to
make sure everything is going
well,” added Shearra Miller. “If
commissioners give us a chance
we can put our money where
our mouth is.
“The 15 of us (members of
the KM, Shelby and Cleveland
County boards of education)
have gotten along well in the
past,” she added. “It would be
real easy to play into the com-
missioners’ hands if we start
fighting. I would hope we can
work together.”
The three boards were ex-
pected to discuss a possible re-
drawing of the Cleveland
County Schools lines to help the
Shelby City System increase its
enrollment. It has been men-
tioned in the past several days
that a merger may not be neces-
See Merger, 3A
oh
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
Alma Mitchem (left) recently celebrated her 100th birthday at
the Senior Center in Kings Mountain. Serving Mitchem some
punch is Senior Center activities director Carolyn Bell who
says that Mitchem is the “backbone” of the facility. Over 50
guests came to the party.
Shelby
106 S. Lafayette St.
484-6200
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
629-3906
Member FDIC