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Thursday, November 2, 2000
KINGS MOUNTAIN
Vol. 112 No. 44
a.
Since 1889
50 Cents
Celebrate
North
Carolina's
Native
American
heritage
TOM TROTT
Mr. Rotary,
Tom Trott,
dies Monday
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer :
When long time Kings
Mountain business and civic
leader Tom Trott passed away
Monday, he left behind a legacy
of caring for his family, friends,
and town. Known by many
through his insurance agency
and its “Trot to Trott” slogan, he
was also a founder of the Kings
Mountain Rotary Club.
A native of Salisbury, Trott
was the husband of the late
Selena Parton Trott. She passed
away August 7 of this year. At
that time, the Trotts had spent
57 years of marriage together.
He was also the father of Libby
‘Blanton. She recalled the impact
‘her father’s life had on her.
“He did so much, he always
made you see the positive side
and not the negative,” Blanton
said. “He could make the best
of any situation.”
Blanton went on to say that
Trott’s” positive manner extend-
ed to his last eight months at
Belaire Health Care Center in
Gastonia.
“The staff at Belaire did a
wonderful job to make dad's
last months easier,” Blanton
said. “He also influenced them.
One maintenance worker said
that just knowing dad had
boosted his self-esteem.”
Trott’s other daughter, Anne,
is married to Larry Nunnery
and lives in Raleigh. He also
had two grandchildren, Molly
Blanton of Chapel Hill and
Adam Blanton of Kings
Mountain. Both Blanton and
Nunnery said their dad loved
people and “never met a
stranger.” The grandchildren
said that when they would ask
Trott for advice, he always told
them to “be yourself, because if
you are, there’s no one like
you.”
The Trotts came to Kings
Mountain in 1952 after living
for a spell in Bennettsville, S.C.
and Statesville. In 1957, Trott
opened his insurance agency
that served the people of Kings
Mountain for many decades.
The following year, Trott or-
ganized the Kings Mountain
Rotary Club. His involvement
with that organization led to the
nickname “Mr. Rotary.”
“He was considered the num-
ber one Rotarian in the area,”
said Trott’s friend of 48 years
Dr. John McGill. “He had a
great number of friends and
was consider a loyal friend to
all who knew him.”
During his long relationship
with Rotary, Trott received
many accolades. Twice he was
named Distinguished Rotarian
and twice again he was hon-
ored as a Paul Harris Fellow.
Until he became ill, he had per-
fect attendance at Rotary since
See Trott, 3A
General election
Kings Mountain and
Cleveland County voters will
go to the polls Tuesday,
November 7 to help elect local,
state and national leaders.
Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and
close at 7:30 p.m. Unofficial
election results will be posted at
the Cleveland County
Volunteer Fire Department and
also on the Election Board's
web site at
www.co.cleveland.nc.us.
The official vote canvass will
be held on Friday, Nov. 10 at 11
a.m. at the Cleveland County
Board of Elections office, 310
East Dale Street, Shelby.
While the nation will be se-
lecting a new president and
North Carolina will be electing
a new governor, there will also
be a huge emphasis on the local
elections.
The Cleveland County Board
of Commissioners race is one of
the hottest in recent years, due
mainly to the present Board's
decision to merge the county’s
three school systems and also to
implement countywide zoning.
Two of the three incumbent
commissioners whose seats
were up this year - Joe Cabiness
and Joe Hendrick - were defeat-
ed in the May primaries. The
only incumbent to survive the
May race was chairman Jim
Crawley, and he has since an-
nounced that he would be mov-
ing to South Carolina and with-
drew from the race. Former
commissioner Ray Thomas was
appointed by the County
Republican Committee to run in
Crawley’s place.
Candidates from Kings
Mountain led the tickets in the
May primaries. Kings Mountain
School Board member Ronnie
Hawkins led the Republican
ticket, followed by David
Morrow of Earl and Crawley.
Bethware School Principal
Mary Accor, a former commis-
sioner, led the Democratic ticket
followed by former Kings
Mountain School Board mem-
ber Tom Bridges and current
Cleveland County School Board
B® SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Priscilla McCleave erects a political sign along Phifer Road near the Kings Mountain National G
member Kenneth Ledford. All
of those candidates, except
Crawley, campaigned against
school merger, and even though
the merger was approved by
the current Board of
Commissioners and the State
Board of Education, they say
they will prevent it if the courts
rule the plan illegal.
The seats of two of the five
members of the County Board -
Charlie Harry and Willie
McIntosh -are not up in this
year’s election.
Another big issue facing the
new board is district representa-
tion. Many of the candidates fa-
vor district representation over
the traditional at-large makeup
of the Board.
Other races featuring a host
of local candidates are the State
House and Senate races.
Six persons are running for
three seats from House District
48. They are Democrats Andy
Dedmon, Connie Goforth-
Greene and Jim Horn, and
Republicans Debbie Clary,
is Tuesday
Dennis Davis and John
Weatherly. Dedmon, Horn and
Clary are the incumbents;
Greene is a newcomer in a State
race; Davis is a former State
Senator; and Weatherly previ-
ously served in the House.
In the State 37th Senatorial
District, former Kings Mountain
mayor Scott Neisler is making
his first bid at state office. He is
trying to unseat two-term
Senator Walter Dalton of
Rutherford County.
History will be made in at
least one statewide race. North
Carolina will elect its first fe-
male lieutenant governor.
Democrat Beverly Perdue and
Republican Betsy Cochrane are
challenged by Reform Party
candidate Catherine Carter.
Former Charlotte Mayor
Richard Vinroot (R) and
Attorney General Mike Easley
(D) are neck and neck in the
governor's race and longtime
incumbent Sue Myrick (R) faces
See Election, 3A
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
uard Armory. With the General
Election coming up next week, it’s not hard to know who's running for office from the local to the national level.
CommScope may build in KM
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Talks are in the works that
could bring a Hickory-based ca-
ble manufacturer to Kings
Mountain. The firm,
CommScope, Inc. makes high
performance broadband com-
munications cable and has been
looking at several sites in the
western region of Nor
Carolina.
The area that CommScope
has checked out in Kings
Mountain is near Countryside
Road north of the city. A plant
there could employ 150 work-
ers and be 200,000 square feet in
size. Eventually, the operation
could have several hundred
workers. No decision has been
reached on the option.
“We are continuing to talk to
CommScope,” Kings Mountain
mayor Rick Murphrey[said on
Tuesday. “Hopefully, a decision
will be announced soon.”
CommScope is the world’s
leading maker of cables for TVs,
computers, and other applica-
tions. It also makes fiber optic
and twisted pair cables used in
wireless communications
equipment. The company did
nearly $750 million in world-
wide sales in 1999.
CommScope employs about
3,500 workers in North
Carolina. It also has plants in
Europe and Alabama. North
Carolina locations are Newton,
Catawba, Statesville, and
Claremont.
In a press release,
CommScope chairman and
CEO, Frank Drendel said the
company felt it was faster and
more cost effective to build a to-
tally new factory rather than try
to expand a current one. |
See Industry, 3A
ETJ resident urges communication
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Although he had already
withdrawn his request for City
Council to rezone property on
Countryside Road from Light
Industrial to Residential R-10,
Countryside resident Lynn
Wellborn asked Council
Monday night to make provi-
sions to always hear the con-
cerns of adjoining property
The city recently zonea ap-
proximately 200 acres in the
Countryside area to LI without
notifying adjoining property
owners of the impending ac-
tion. The land is located in the
city’s recently-approved ET]
area, and on all proposed zon-
ing maps and letters sent to the
adjoining property owners by
the Kings Mountain Planning
Department, the land was pro-
posed to be R-10.
employ up to 400 people is
looking at the two tracts of
land, owned by the Plonk and
Elam families.
Wellborn said he and his
neighbors are not against indus-
try and jobs, but were con-
cerned that property owners
weren't notified prior to the ac-
ton.
“I hope you understand how
the residents feel about how the
ELECTION FACTS
Date: November 7, 2000
Polls Open: 6:30 a.m.
Polls Close: 7:30 p.m.
Local Precincts:
eBethware - El Bethel United
Methodist Church fellowship
hall, 122 El Bethel Rd.
Grover - Grover Town Hall,
207 Mulberry Rd.
*KM#1 - Second Baptist
Church, 120 Linwood Rd.
eKM#2 - Boyce Memorial ARP
fellowship hall, Edgemont Dr.
* KM#3 - First Baptist Church
Christian Ministry Center, 605
W. King St.
oe KM#4 - American Legion,
613 East Gold St.
*Qak Grove - Oak Grove
Baptist Church fellowship hall,
1022 Oak Grove Rd.
40 Days
40 Nights
And no rain in sight
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
Even though it’s not time yet
to trade in your car for a camel,
if it doesn’t rain soon that might
not be a bad idea. The fact is, if
for lack of rain will fall.
According to the National
Weather Service, it hasn’t rained
in our area since September 25.
The last time such a dry spell
took place was way back in
1886. The only place in North
Carolina that has seen any mea-
surable rain in October is
Wilmington with .38 inches.
The Upstate of South Carolina
has been equally dry. Records in
Greenville and Spartanburg
have also been set for lack of
rain.
No rain means that wells are
suffering from reduced water
tables. Arnold Philbeck of
Arnold’s Well Drilling in Kings
Mountain says he has been see-
ing the results of the drought on
a daily basis.
“We've been getting four or
five calls every day for wells
going dry,” Philbeck said.
“Most of them are the older, 24
inch surface wells. The newer
six inch type has not been af-
fected as much by the lack of
rain.”
Philbeck said that the water
table has dropped 10 feet in
some areas over the past few
years. The older wells that once
held 15 feet of water are now
down to just a few feet of pre-
cious liquid.
For now, the City of Kings
Mountain is holding its own in
the water situation. Though the
level of Moss Lake has been
dropped about six feet, that’s
for maintenance on dam spill-
ways. Rain, however, will be
needed to bring the lake back
up to normal levels. Kings
Mountain Water Resources
Director Walt Ollis says that for
now, the city has water.
“We are in good shape at the
moment,” Ollis aid. “But, if it
doesn’t rain in the next couple
of weeks, things can change.”
The dry conditions have also
brought the risk of brush and
forest fires. Brush fires in the
Linville area burned about 600
acres Monday. A brush fire in
Gaston County saw several
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HOMETOWN
BANK
LYN N WELLBORN owners before zoning property. A major industry that would See Council, 3A See Rain, 3A
Kings Mountain Gastonia Shelby Bessemer City
FIRST NATIONAL BANK 300 W. Mountain St. 529 New Hope Rd. 106 S. Lafayette St. 1225 Gastonia Hwy.
Celebrating 126 Years 739-4782 865-1233 484-6200 629-3906
Member FDIC
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