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April 27, 2000
CANDIDATES
From 1A -
Bill Walker
#1 - School merger.
“I was opposed to it all the
way. There was no reason for it,
especially raising taxes like
they’ll' have to. I teach school,
my wife teaches school, my
daughter teaches school, and I
know we've already got good
schools in Cleveland County.
“You could take all the mon-
ey that it will cost for merger
and improve the schools that
we have already, by adding
more classrooms and letting
people go wherever they want
to go rather than forcing the
busing on them. It appears to
me that Shelby has continued to
keep all the good teachers that
they have and paying them
supplements out of taxpayer
money, and should have been
cutting back as the enrollment
dropped. Right now, Union.
School will lose 150 students -
30 to Shelby and 120 to Spring,
Crest and other places, and that
will mean losing five teachers
out of Union.
“(At the public hearing). «
Willie McIntosh made a CE
statement, and I was really ,
proud of him. He really took to:
heart what everybody said.
Students from Kings Mountain *
really gave some good reports
on how they felt about it. They
are getting the bad end of the
deal. They shouldn't tear Kings
Mountain Schools up.” :
#2 - Infrastructure.
“We need to try to bring more
industry and create more jobs,
and from that to derive taxes
rather than taking the taxes
from the landowners and
homeowners in Cleveland: :
County.” .
#3- Roads and district rep-
resentation.
“We need a bypass around
Shelby and we also need a road
going east and west to include
the bypass, and we need a road
going from Spartanburg north
to south and connect to the
Morganton area. That would
give us a cross-section of
Cleveland County.
HURRY. LIMITED
TIME ONLY!
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“I am 100 percent for district
representation on the County
Commissioners Board, especial-
ly since we have the school
merger taking effect.”
Tommy Bridges
# 1 - District representation.
“The new census is coming in
and they will be using districts
for the School Board, so I think
we will be able to push it
through.
# 2 - School merger.
“We need to work with the
school boards to help the merg-
er go smoothly. I think we can
have good schools. I'd like to
know what the interim board
should be. I think the county
and Kings Mountain should
have their fare share in control
of the county board.
# 3 - Review of zoning.
“We need to review the zon-
ing that they did in the upper
part of the county, and make
sure it’s fair for all of the land
owners. Quite a few of them are
dissatisfied.
Kenneth Ledford
#1 - Education.
“Now that the County
Commissioners have said that
they're going to merger the
school systems, it’s going to
+ take a commission that will
back and support the board so
-« we can get the best possible ed-
ucation we can attain. There
* will be a lot of things unexpect-
ed that the commissioners have
not even thought about. In or-
der for the education process to
be properly obtained it will take
a commission that is under-
standing of the process and
knows how it works.”
# 2 - Economic development.
“The reason I say that is be-
cause we've had several plants
in Cleveland County that have
closed. We need to provide
more jobs and better jobs for
our citizens. We've also got kids
that are graduating every year
and it becomes more and more
difficult to find jobs in
Cleveland County.”
#3 - Infrastructure and dis-
trict representation.
“We need better roads, water
Uy
Ns
and sewer. It has already been
stated in a survey, by AAAI
believe, that Cleveland County
has some of the worst roads in
North Carolina. The commis-
sioners need to work to get the
bypass through, and also to
have all the unpaved roads
paved. Do more than just patch
them. We need to have some of
them repaved and put in better
shape.
“We need to have a county-
wide sewer system and I think
we need to work with our com-
munities and sanitary districts
to make sure our water systems
are adequate to give the water
supply the industries need.”
“I feel that we need district
representation in order to
equalize representation in all
parts of the county. By elections
at-large we have a tendency of
one area monopolizing the ma-
jority of the seats on the county
commission. District represen-
tation will eliminate this.”
Mary Accor
#1 - Education
“I will be an advocate for the
children. I will support the
quality of education that we
have presently i in our county. If
there is a merger, I will be sup-
portive of trying to bring about
unity between the three Sys :
tems.
“T would hope that the com-
missioners get qualified people
to be on the interim board of
education and that they would
be given ample time to plan for
the success of the one system,
and then utilize the strength of
the existing systems. We have a
lot of good things going on in
our schools. Just by combining
all the efforts we should be able
to continue successfully.
“By the way it (merger) was
planned and the way it was
done, it’s going to take a while
to bring it all together. We have
good people. When you're a
professional you just have to
take whatever comes to you
and do the best you can. It’s not
about us - it’s about the kids.
Sometimes we have to put how
we feel aside and do what's
best for the kids and make sure
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they're successful.”
# 2 - Growth..
“I want to assure managed
growth through effective plan-
ning, and make sure that eco-
nomic prosperity reaches every
community by begin attentive
to the needs of the county.”
# 3 - Relieving tax burdens
of property owners.
“I want to find alternative
sources for revenue to relieve
the tax burden of all citizens. I
think basically we need to look
at different forms of tax to take
the burden off property owners.
It seems like more and more are
being dumped on property
owners. If we had a sales tax
everybody coming in and out of
the county will have to take
part in relieving the debt. We'll
continue to look at industry, but
I want to make sure that’s man-
aged. We keep saying we're go-
ing to get industry, and without
them it’s just going to put more
burden on us. It’s easy to say
they're coming in, but we have
to continue to recruit the type
industry that will bring in high-
paying jobs for the people.”
Joe Hendrick
#1 - Schools.
“I will continue to work to-
ward the consolidation of the
schools and to try to get the to-
. tal utilization of the facilities to
cut costs and taxes in the future,
and to provide the best possible
education for the children.”
- State mandates.
“I will continue to work with
the legislature to stop the man-
dates of them trying to send all
the cost of everything back
down to counties - in other
words, unfunded mandates.
They should take more respon-
sibility for the health, education
and welfare of the people.”
# 3 - Infrastructure.
“I will continue to work for
good roads and the extension of
utilities to bring about industri-
al development. I will work on
the environment to keep clean
water and waste and get mean-
ingful recycling.”
Ralph Gilbert
#1 - Schools
“I'm in favor of giving the
children the best education
that’s possible, but I think the
matter of education is best left
up to the schools themselves.
We need parental support for
the schools and students.
Parents need to encourage
students.”
#2 - Caring
“The most important thing
facing this county is to try to do
something to get the people
back to caring for each other. It
* bothers me that the school
merger issue has caused so
many people to be angry and
say ugly things about their fel-
low man. We need to do what
we can to soothe the souls of
the citizens and get back to
working together again.”
“The county commissioners
need to discontinue any person-
al agenda they have and get
back to representing all of the
citizens and follow the open
meetings law to the letter. The
commissioners ought to sup-
port the various boards in the
county and appoint people that
the boards recommend rather
than picking people that they
(the commissioners) want. The
boards know who will make
good members.”
# 3 - Unnecessary spending
“One of the most important
things is to cut out unnecessary
spending and make sure the tax
money goes where it should.
We can’t stand any more tax in-
creases. We need to do what we
can to make the quality of life
better for all citizens.”
Ken Jones
#1 - Education.
Ed Shealy
Tim Blackwell, CTS,
President of Personnel Services
Unlimited, Inc. (PSU) has an-
nounced that Ed Shealy has
been hired as Director of Search
and Recruitment in the Shelby
office. Shealy earned his BS in
Liberal Arts from Erskine
College in Due West, S.C. He
Page 7A :
“My number one concern
was school merger, but it looks
like that’s alread” decided. The
commission needs to stay out of
the educational part of it and let
the school board, or boards,
whichever we're going to have,
run the schools. All three school
boards a: ioing a fine job and I
question whether commission-
ers have a right meddling in it.”
# 2 - District representation.
“We over here in t= western
part of the county haven't had
anybody to represent us in a
while. I for one feel we need
district representation. I feel like
we need at least seven county
commissioners, and they ought
to be spread out all over the
county, not just in one general
area like they are now.”
# 3 - Infrastructure.
“We need the bypass and we
need to work on water and
sewer, especially a sewer sys-
tem. I realize it’s going to cost a
lot of money. It’s going to take a
lot of study to come up with
ways we can do this.
)
“We need to look at bringing
industry to the county and.
ways we can attract better pay-
ing jobs for our kids coming out
of school. One of the main
things we need to look at is tax-
es. We've just had a rate hike
with tax revaluation. It seems
like they (the commissioners)
think they can just raise taxes
and never worry about the peo-
ple on fixed income and the
people who just cannot contin-
ue to pay more and more taxes.
We need to look at what we can
do for the citizens and the coun-
ty in general, and be good rep-
resentatives.”
joins PSU
was formerly employed at
Copeland Corporation as
Human Relations Manager and
has 28 years experience in
Human Resources manage-
ment,
Shealy and his wife, Judy,
who is employed at Gardner-
Webb University, have two chil-
dren, Chuck and Alison.
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FLOYD WRIGHT
COUNTY COMMISSIONER
SPECIFIC GOALS
» Maximize all of our federal, state, and county resources while
minimizing our Expenditures. Very Conservative Approach — ED.S.- Western Carolina University
NO TAX INCREASE. M.Ed. - UNCC
» Strong support to our county agencies that provide needed B.S.- Appalachian State University
services to our citizens of Gaston County. A.A.- Gardner-Webb University
* Education Programs
Gaston County Schools, Gaston College,
Charter/Private/Church
» Gaston Memorial Hospital
» Law Enforcement Agencies
Department of Social Services
* EMS/Rescue & Fire Department Units
* Improve our transportation system in Gaston County
* Improve our Economic Tax Base
» Work with all city municipalities within the county to help with
their needs.
» Strong effort to make Gaston County a better place to live and
work
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Floyd Wright , County Commissioner
914 N. Main St. Hwy 27 North, 4
Stanley; NC LTR REET CT
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