Thursday, January 4, 2001
Vol. 113 No. 01
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“A Historical Star
Restoration of KM’s oldest home nears completion
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
It’s the oldest house in Kings
Mountain, but come spring and
full restoration, it will be the
newest star on the local history
scene.
Originally built back in 1873
by W.A. Mauney, the little
frame home at 104 N.
Battleground Avenue was origi-
nally a two-story store that
Mauney and his brother Jacob
Mauney ran. With the coming.
of the Charlotte-Atlanta Airline
Railway in 1874, the Mauney’s
moved their mercantile busi-
ness to a larger building in the
heart of downtown. After the
move, a one-story section was
added, the house was turned to
face the railroad tracks, and it
became a four-room dwelling.
The decades since it was first
built saw many changes come
to Kings Mountain. In time, a
gas station was built next door
to the home, then a restaurant.
As time marched on, its feet left
heavy treads on the quaint
homestead. When restoration of
the house was initiated two
years ago by Kings Mquntain
Historic Home Preservation
Inc., the place was in pretty
rough shape.
“The house was a gift to the
preservation group from Jim
and Will Herndon,” said
restoration organizer Mary
Neisler. “Its rebuilding has tak-
en a lot of research and hard
work.”
~ See House, 4A
ALAN HODGE/THE HERALD
Restoration of the oldest original house in
Kings Mountain is nearing completion. Located
at 104 N. Battleground Avenue, the circa 1873
dwelling was built by W.A. Mauney as a mercan-
tile store.
at’s coming up in 2001?
New 5-6 school, merger
top priorities for KMDS
! BY ALAN HODGE
: Staff Writer \
i Sailing ahead valiantly through uncertain wa-
i tersillustrates the current state of the Kings
i Mountain District Schools board of education.
i With merger still undecided, and superintendent
: Dr. Bob McRae soon moving his tent to Randolph
: County, the board and school system is focusing
i its attention to getting construction of the new
i $10.8 million grades 5-6 school under way.
i Though he won't be around to see all of 2001,
i McRae has several items on his agenda for the re-
{ mainder of his tenure.
i “Getting the new school started is a top priori-
: ty,” McRae said. “Also seeing out merger in a
i way that allows us to keep the school system and
i selecting a new superintendent.” :
According to McRae, representatives from the
N.C. School Board Association will be meeting
: with Kings Mountain school board members on
i January 11 to discuss ways the association can as-
: sistin selecting the new system head.
: As far as the new school is concerned, ground
i breaking will take place in a matter of weeks on
i that project located on Kings Mountain Blvd.
i McRae says that though the school design is done
i and ready for construction, things such as selec-
i tion of interior colors and furnishings will not
i come for a while yet.
i Looking ahead to 2001, Kings Mountain school
i board chairman Dr. Larry Allen says that his
i group will come up with a specific set of goals at
: their January 18 meeting. One of the top priorities
i tobe examined at that time will be closing the
i achievement gap between high and low scoring
i students. ]
i “We will continue to identify the areas that
: need attention in the area of underachieving stu-
: dents,” Allen said. “Strategies to address those ar-
: eas will then occur at the school and system lev-
3 el”
See School, 2A
{ BY ALAN HODGE
i Staff Writer
i Anyone who has attended a meeting of the
: new Cleveland County Board of Commissioners
: has probably sensed a different -atmosphere in
: those chambers. Given some of the contentious
i Tuesday evenings that characterized many of the
: ousted commissioner's sessions, the new board is
: placing as one of its top priorities for 2001 a
: “kinder, gentler” way of doing business.
: “My top priority is getting the county back to-
i gether,” said commission chairman Willie
i McIntosh. “Merger and zoning broke it and we
: need to build bridges to one another.”
One way that McIntosh and his fellow commis-
sioners intend to begin construction of that bridge
i is with a special meeting planned for the end of
: January.
i Coordinated by the County Association for
i Government Officials (CAGO) the power pow-
wow will be open for every single elected official
in Cleveland County to attend. According to
McIntosh, this list runs the gamut from “con-
gressman on down.” :
“The meeting will include not only elected offi-
cials, but the Cleveland County Chamber, repre-
sentatives from Gardner-Webb University,
Cleveland Community College, local high schools
and Cleveland Tomorrow,” said McIntosh.
McIntosh emphasized the need to have the col-
lege and high school students take part in the
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 127 Years
: GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Employees of Ronny Turner Construction Co. brave the bitter
cold weather to install new 16-inch water lines on Cansler
Street in Kings Mountain. The $880,000 Phase Il of the eight-
year replacement of the main water line from Mdss Lake to
the City Public Works Department will be completed in the
spring. Phase Ill, which takes the line from Cansler to Oak
Grove Road, will take place in the 2001-02 fiscal year.
Building bridges top priority of county chairman
event. In his opinion, getting youth involved in
government is a top priority for 2001.
The overall theme of the CAGO get together
will be to take input from those present, and car-
ry those ideas to the commissioner’s planned re-
treat in early February. From the retreat, McIntosh“
said a set of goals and priorities for the coming
year will be set.
Newly elected commissioner Mary Accor says
that she has several ideas on her plate for 2001.
Heading the list is increased input from citizens.
“I want to make people feel comfortable when
they approach the commission,” Accor said. “ We
will be listening to the people.”
Other things Accor feels will be important for
the commissioners to examine in 2001 will be
dealing with land usage and zoning issues and
restrictions as they apply to those areas.
Maintaining and increasing job availability and
economic growth in Cleveland County is also im-
portant, Accor said. i
“We have to keep the county growing. It's im-
portant to bring jobs to the county, but they must
be good paying jobs.” ;
As principal of Bethware School, Accor is espe-
cially aware of the need to address education is-
sues in Cleveland County this year. Of course, -
the subject still on many minds is the unfinished
merger melee.
“We have to wait and see what the final out-
come is on the merger issue,” Accor said.
“Whatever it is, we will just have to deal with it.”
Outdoors
will get
attention
from KM
BY ALAN HODGE
Staff Writer
What's in the works for the
City of Kings Mountain in
2001? The great outdoors for
one thing.
On a list of items that city ;
government in Kings Mountain }
will be looking at in the coming
year, tying the town into the
connecting land bridge between
Crowders Mountain State Park
and Kings Mountain National
Military Park and State Park
will near the top of the list, ac-
cording to mayor Rick
Murphrey. :
“We will be working with the i
Department of the Interior after
the first of the year to see how
the parks and city can benefit
each other regarding the corri-
dor,” Murphrey said. “There
will be a tremendous number of
visitors coming to take advan-
tage of the recreational opportu-
nities that the connecting land
will provide.” :
Ideas that Murphrey has for
linking Kings Mountain to the
new wilderness area include
making Highway 161 a gate-
way to the three parks. Signage
See City, 4A
Like McIntosh, Accor feels that getting young
folks involved in the governmental process is vi-
tal to Cleveland County's future. She favors hav-
ing student groups come to commission meetings
to see exactly what goes on. In addition, Accor
says that publicly recognizing students for their
achievements is another item she would like to
see instituted.
Accor’s fellow commissioner Ronnie Hawkins
says he wants the coming year to see steps to-
wards district representation take place in
Cleveland County. He says that in order for the
issue to be on the ballot at the next election in two
years, research and work must begin now to
come up with a plan that the people want and
that the commissioners can then approve.
“We want public input and involvement into
any plan for district representation,” Hawkins
said. sa a,
On the school merger issue, Hawkins said
though he hasn't lost sight of the fact his anti-
merger stance was one of the reasons he got elect-
ed, he feels other challenges facing the county
should not suffer while merger gets all the atten-
tion. )
“Some of the other things we need to look at in
2001 are quality of life for our senior citizens, at-
tracting industry, and continuing to improve our
children’s education.” he said.
Hawkins also stated that one more issue he
wants resolved in 2001 deals with the students
attending Kings Mountain schools but actually
residing in Gaston County.
Kings Mountain Gastonia Shelby
300 W. Mountain St. 529 New Hope Road 106 S. Lafayette
704-739-4782 704-865-1233 704-484-6200
CL. .d merger
issue go to
NC Assembly?
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
While it’s not likely to happen soon, the issue
of the merger of Kings Mountain, Cleveland
County and Shelby City Schools could ultimately
make it to the floor of the State General Assembly.
At present, the issue is tied up in the court sys-
tem since the Kings Mountain Board of Education
and a KM parents group sued the Cleveland
County Board of Commissioners and the State
Board of Education for approving the merger
plan, which originally was scheduled to take ef-
fect on July 1, 2000.
Once those appeals are settled, the merger
must also be pre-cleared by the U.S. Justice
Department.
But, since the new Board of County
Commissioners passed a resolution at its
December 4 meeting to ask the State Board to re-
scind its action, and also for the Justice
Department to refuse to pre-clear it, there has
been talk around the county that the local’
i delegates to the State General Assembly may be
asked to introduce local bills to have the State
Board's action overturned in the General
i Assembly.
The new General Assembly convenes on
: January 24, but for a while members of both the
House and Senate will be dealing with important
organizational matters.
There is a good chance, though, that the :
County Commissioners may ask the local delega- :
i tion to get involved in stopping the merger before
: the Session ends in July. .
State Senator Walter Dalton of Rutherford
i County said he has heard some talk along those
i lines but said he has not been officially contacted
i: about the matter. He and Representatives Debbie
i Clary and Andy Dedmon said it may be neces-
i sary for the local delegation to have a meeting
and discuss the matter. Rep. John Weatherly
i could not be reached for comment.
But Dalton also hinted that before he would
i consider taking the matter before the Legislature
: he would have to have a formal request from a lo-
i cal governing body such as the Board of
: Commissioners, as well as concrete support from
: other agencies such as the three school boards
i and city councils.
“Usually, on any type of local legislation it has
to be pretty much of a consensus of all the people
back home,” he said. “We would have to look at
what kind of recommendation we get and what
type of support we'd have. I'd have to see what
they suggest and whether it had other support of
i entities in the community. Usually, school boards
and county commissioners would come together
and present a joint proposal.”
He said the November election, when three
merger opponents swept the three available seats
on the commission, may have suggested that the
‘majority of citizens oppose merger but “that body
must now come together and discuss what they
want to do and present some kind of concrete res-
olution.” :
All three legislators were asked their personal
views on merger, and only Dedmon was clear in
his answer.
“I have been publicly saying all along that I'm
against the way it was handled,” he said.
Dedmon said he hasn’t been approached about
; introducing legislation to stop it, but said if con-
tacted he would “definitely give it due considera-
tion. I think the people have been very vocal
about their feelings about school merger.”
Like Dalton, Clary said the legislators would
have to have a “delegation meeting” to discuss
: the matter.
“It’s a very large issue and it’s one that I
wouldn't feel a freedom to speak about without
the rest of our legislative delegation,” she said.
“But I firmly believe in community schools.”
Everything being equal, Dalton said he sup-
ports leaving merger decisions to the counties.
“My thinking is that is as long as funding is eq-
uitable it should be up to the county to decide
how many administrations they want,” he said.
“It should be a local issue as far as how many ed-
i ucational entities you would have.”
Regardless of the merger situation, this year’s
GA session could be quite interesting. Saturday,
the state will swear in a new governor, Mike
Easley, and its first female lieutenant governor,
Beverly Perdue. When the House convenes on
January 24 the state might also see its first female
Speaker of the House.
Connie Wilson of Mecklenburg County may
have enough support to unseat current speaker
Jim Black, also of Mecklenburg. Clary supports
Wilson and Dedmon supports Black. .
According to Clary, there are 58 Republican
and 62 Democrats in the House, but many of the
more conservative Democrats are expected to
support Wilson.
“It looks like a toss of the coin,” Clary said.
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