Thursday, January 18, 2001
Vol. 113 No. 03
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Personnel
Committee
doesn’t act
on Hayes’
request
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain City
Councilman Bob Hayes’ at-
tempi to o change the section of
the city’s per-
sonnel policy
which prevents :
amployees from :
| running for
| public office
| failed to get out
of the Personnel i
8 “ommittee i
il Tuesday after-
"noon, but the
group did agree
that the committee and City :
Council should seriously con- ~~ §
sider updating the entire per- i
sonnel policy. :
According to Hayes, the cur-
rent personnel policy was
adopted in 1989 and all of the
city administrators and com-
missioners at that time are no
longer on board.
Hayes, who worked for the
City Police Department for 36
years, including the last several
years of his tenure as Chief, said
he had to resign his position
when he first ran for City
Council in 1997. He suggested
that the policy be changed to al-
low city employees to take an
unpaid leave of absence while
they ran for office and then, if
elected, resign. If defeated, he
Staff Writer
While most folks spent their
Christmas holidays unwrapping
Mountaintop
Experience
KM lakes
may be sold |
January 30 |
Group’s hopes that state can
i delay sale may not pan out
KM students discover 100 million year old
coral reef during trip to Andes Mountains
BY ALAN HODGE
A group of Kings
Mountain High
School students
led by teacher
Robert Golembeski
recently went on
an adventure trip
to the country of
Chile and the
Andes Mountain.
Photo at top shows
Drew Neisler tak-
ing a break at :
10,000 foot eleva: :
tion. At left, Jordan :
Wollak explores a
glacier cave.
Bottom photo
| shows Meagan
| Spicer (left) and I
Beth Bumgardner
# checking out some
i fossilized dinosaur
footprints. The
i¥| group also discov-
dl ered a 100 million
year old fossilized
, coral reef.
BY ALAN HODGE :
Staff Writer
: Members of the Friends of the Lakes group met
with a representative from the N.C. Parks and
Recreation Department Tuesday in a continuation |
of their efforts to block sale of Davidson and City
lakes by the City of Kings Mountain to Sea Island
Land Corp.
One hope that the group had concerning the
question over whether the lakes were still classi-
fied as a drinking water source and therefore sub-
ject to an eight month to one year process before
they could be sold didn’t pan out.
According to Environmental Specialist Jeff
Manning at the Division of Water Quality in oH
Raleigh, both lakes have since 1992 been taken off K
the drinking water source list and are in Class C-
or secondary recreation use. Manning pulled the
information from a database which has a list of
the state’s waters and their use.
Final approval for the sale could come at the
January 30 city council meeting. The price is
$630,000 for the two lakes and surrounding land.
Lake surface area is about 52 acres for Davidson
and 47.5 acres for City Lake. Land acreage is 26.5
acres for Davidson and 37.5 for City Lake. Total is
Friends of the Lake members and Lou Ann
Bryan from the state gathered on the shores of
Davidson Lake to enjoy a picnic and chew the fat
over ways to keep the property as a recreational
site. The land and waters are just two miles sout
of I-85 on Highway 161: When the planned trail"
wife Elisa Freire have been taking
students on adventure trips since :
1992. i
The Kings Mountain contingent
for the Chile adventure included
a little over 160 acres. : 1%
gifts, a group of students from Kings
Justin Boheler, Earl Bowman, Beth to connect Crowders Mountain State Park with
said they should then be al- . :
lowed to return to their previ-
ous position and pay.
Hayes recently filed a lawsuit
against the city, saying City
Manager Jimmy Maney forced
him to resign as police chief to
run for Council. He later
dropped the suit “without prej-
udice,” meaning he can re-file it
within a year. He said he
dropped it so he could work
through City Council to change
the policy.
Hayes said when he filed the
suit he was criticized for “trying
to get big bucks from the city,
but I was just wanting to get my
point across.”
The personnel policy states
that employees cannot be a can-
. didate or hold any public office
if the city lies within the juris-
diction of that office. Hayes said
See Hayes, 3A
guages,”
Mountain High School was half a
world away unwrapping a 100 mil-
lion year old mystery.
Led by Robert Golembeski, a for-
mer Kings Mountain High biology
and environmental science teacher
now on a two year leave to UNC-
Wilmington, the ten students spent
nearly two weeks exploring the
South American nation of Chile.
“The goal of the trip was to let the
students explore the culture of Chile
as well as develop confidence in
communication in a foreign lan-
said Golembeski.
Places the students visited while in
Chile included the capital of
Santiago, a horse ranch run by
Chilean cowboys called “Guasos,” a
winery, the rugged seacoast, and the
Andes Mountains. Through his tour
company Educational Travel
International, Golembeski and his
School Board calls special session
to discuss superintendent search
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
By the time you read this, Kings Mountain
District Schools may or may not have a new su-
perintendent.
Kings Mountain Board of Education was meet-
ing last night at Central School to discuss
whether to hire an interim superintendent or
search for a permanent superintendent to replace
Dr. Bob McRae, who has resigned effective April
1 to become superintendent of Randolph County
Schools.
At its regular board meeting last Thursday
night, Allison Schaffer, Attorney for the NC
School Boards Association, discussed with the
board possible avenues to take, including naming
an interim superintendent until the Cleveland
County merger issue is decided, and a search for
a long-term superintendent. :
While board members did not indicate a prefer-
ence, it is believed they will opt for an interim.
Board Chairman Dr. Larry Allen said Monday
Schaffer is compiling a list of retired superinten-
dents who may be interested in serving an inter-
im. :
“Part of what we'll be doing Wednesday night
will be to talk about the superintendent search
and discuss people that we might want to con-
See Search, 3A
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celethating 127 Years
Safety to be discussed
at Board work session
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Although they know their schools are safe and
are proud of the effort their staff is making to re-
port every incident however minor, safety will be
a main topic of Kings Mountain School Board
members when they have their annual winter
work session February 1 at 8:30 a.m. at the
Central Office.
A recent violence report from the State |
Department of Public Instruction listed KMDS as
the system with the second highest number of vi-
olent incidents during last school year.
That prompted parent Wendy Clark to address
the School Board on the subject at last Thursday’s
meeting at Central School, and ask the board
what actions would be taken to “keep kids safe at
school.”
All Board members and Supt. Bob McRae said
they don’t take the report lightly, but it could be a
bit misleading because Kings Mountain's zero
tolerance policy requires random weapons
searches and that every incident be reported to
See Safety, 3A
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
Bumgardner, Alex Canipe, LaDricus
Gingles, Brad Goforth, Trent Hopper,
Drew Neisler, Meagan Spicer, and
Jordan Wollak. Students raised their
own funds for the jaunt. One even
passed up a new car and used the
money to go on the expedition.
Once in the Andes, the trip took on
a level of adventure and discovery
that exceeded anyone’s expectations.
Hiking at altitudes of 10,000 to 12,000
feet, the group came upon fossilized
dinosaur footprints, glaciers, snow-
covered peaks, and soaring moun-
tains.
Just getting there was an experi-
ence. Travel involved fording rivers,
crossing swinging bridges, and driv-
ing on a one lane road with sheer
drops. Golembeski said the route
had over 20 memorials to travelers
who had been killed in acccidents.
See Reef, 3A
sescscsssessss
Kings Mountain National Military Park and State
Park is completed, the lakes will just be one half
mile away.
“The lakes are a wonderful resource,” ’ Bryan
said.
Besides their proximity to the connector trail,
the lakes are home to a wide variety of wildlife.
Evidence on the shore Tuesday pointed to trees
felled by beaver. Tim Plonk of Kings Mountain
says the lakes are an excellent place to fish.
Canoeing is also a popular activity on the lakes
since craft powered by internal combustion en-
gines are prohibited.
“We have a real gem right here near the city,”
said Friends of the Lake member Dennis
Patterson. “It’s use as a greenway or link to the’
trail is a natural.”
Action taken so far by Friends of the Lake,
whose members also include Shirley Brutko, Carl
DeVane, and Mike Smith have involved circulat-
ing petitions. Plans are for the group and their
supporters to speak at the January 30 council
meeting.
529 New Hope Road
704-865-1233
ALAN HODGE, ire HERALD
Tim Plonk of Kings Mountain and Lou Ann Bryan from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Division were
part of a group that met Tuesday at Davidson Lake to look at ways to keep the property from be-
ing sold by the city. Pionk is a member of Friends of the Lakes which opposes the sale to Sea
Island Land Corp.
Gastonia Shelby
106 S. Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
Member FDIC