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Thursday, May 3, 2001
KINGS MOUNTAIN
Vol. 113 No. 18 Since 1889
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Merg
BY BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
A new chapter will be written in the school
merger saga as two courts in Raleigh will make
rulings that could effect Kings Mountain District
Schools
On June 6, North Carolina Court of Appeals
will hear the lawsuits the school system has filed
against the Cleveland County Board of
Commissioners.
The court will hear an appeal on the case origi-
nally heard by Judge Oliver Noble on whether a
preliminary injunction should have been granted.
Budget woes
may affect
KM satellite
health clinic
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
A proposed Kings Mountain
satellite office of the Cleveland
County Health Department
may face the budget ax that is
being yielded by the county be-
cause of a shortfall in funds for
the 2001-02 fiscal year.
The County Board of
Commissioners recently sent
out a letter to municipalities in
the county stating that they
would not fund anything that
was not funded last year be-
cause they face a budget short-
fall of about $900,000 because
the State of North Carolina is
not releasing an estimated
$844,000 in inventory taxes.
The County Health
Department and City of Kings
Mountain had been considering
a partnership that would locate
a satellite health clinic at the
new medical facility across
from The Herald on East King
Street.
However, County
Commission Chairman Willie
McIntosh said that if that hap-
pens the money will have to
come out of the Health
Department’s budget, which
has not yet been approved by
the county. :
Health Director Denese
Stallings said she included
$47,000 in her budget request to
start up the clinic (Kings
Mountain is to provide an addi-
tional $21,000), but she said she
had already received a letter
from County Manager Lane
Alexander saying that the mon-
ey would not be granted.
The Board of Health will dis- :
i been taking classes from a Gastonia diving Shop,
! is an all-volunteer force, and has been paying for
i the instruction out of its own fund.
cuss the matter at its monthly
meeting Tuesday night at 6:30
p.m. at North Lake Country
Club in Shelby.
Stallings is still hopeful the
satellite office can be a reality,
but it may take a commitment
from the city to provide addi-
tional funds.
“Our Board is going to have
to evaluate it,” Stallings said.
“We have so many mandated
services that we have to fund.
Starting something new would
require getting money from
somewhere else.”
KM Mayor Rick Murphrey
said he is committed to having
the satellite office which would
provide citizens in the KM area
all of these services that they
currently have to drive to
Shelby for. Stallings said the of-
fice would be manned full-time
. but services would be at desig-
nated times.
“There wold be someone
there all the time that could
help people with information
they may need about Health
Department Services,” she said,
“but it would have certain
hours for certain services.”
See Clinic 12A
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Doledrei 127 Yearno
: Staff Writer
{ Moss Lake last year, the Kings Mountain Rescue
i Squad decided it needs to be more prepared i or
i Neisler Natorium at Kings Mountain High
i School, so more members could be certified |
i divers.
i Resource officer at Kings Mountian High School.
was pleased with the progress of the squad.
: Hartsell said. “They've learned a lot real quick.”
and he said he does more than run a store.
: than just being a shop,” he said.
: 13 years.
the first level in diving, the squad will go to
i Florida to complete the course.
Kings Mountain Attorney Brian Shaw said
Kings Mountain asked for the preliminary in-
junction to maintain the school systems as they
were before the merger issue, and that the ruling
will be an indication of how strong the school
system's case is.
Although it may not have the final decision,
Shaw said the Court of Appeals can have the fi-
nal rule if it finds the school board was not in the
proper jurisdiction to file the lawsuit in Cleveland
County against the Board of Commissioners.
Kings Mountain Schools has two other cases
filed in Wake County Superior Court in Raleigh,
and those will be heard on June 11 in Raleigh.
Bl RESCUE DIVING 101
But the merger issue will not be decided on the
basis of the cases, Kings Mountain Schools
Superintendent Dr. Larry Allen said.
“If the appeals court rules in our favor, we can
go back to court and have a jury trial,” he said.
“We don’t know what the others will involve in
terms of decisions, we have to go through the
process.”
Allen said if the appeals court does not rule in
favor of the school system, it may appeal the deci-
sion, but if any appeals are granted as a result of
the district's appeal, the school system will have
to wait.
er suits to be heard in June
the original lawsuit dismissed, Shaw said, be-
cause it said the way to challenge it is to wait un-
til a final decision is made.
A second lawsuit, also against the State Board
of Education, will be heard June 11.
Kings Mountain Schools filed a lawsuit against
the State Board to keep it from acting on the
merger request from the Cleveland County Board
of Commissioners and Judge Abe Jones issued a
preliminary injunction. Ronnie Wilson, Assistant
Superintendent for Personnel and
Administration,
said the injunction is what de-
layed the merger.
The State Board of Education is oolong to have
BEN LEDBETTER) THE HERALD
Kings Mountain Rescue Squad Members Jamie Ledbetter, left, and Danny Smith are making
sure their diving gear works before going under Friday at Neisler Natorium at Kings Mountain
High School.
the number of divers on its roster.
Members of the the squad has been taking diving classes this year to increase
Drowning at Moss Lake inspires
rescuers to be prepared in future
BY BEN LEDBETTER
1
After a Shelby man and his son drowned at
future emergencies at the lake.
Recently the squad has been in diving Slashes at
Previously, there has been only one other diver
on the squad, Tim Adams, who is also the School
Kings Mountain's Rescue Squad, which has
Chris Hartsell of Skully’s Dive Shop said he
“These guys are doing great in the pool,”
Hartsell has taught other emergency agencies
“We can carry someone further being a school
Hartsell has been in business for approximately
To receive its open water diving certification,
See Rescue 3A
C ittee t
By GARY STEWART ordinance drew concerns from
several members of Council.
Editor of The Herald
: Councilmen Carl DeVane,
chairman, and Clavon Kelly
and Gene White make up the
committee.
The proposal brought before
the Council, which never got to
a vote, limited the amount of
trimmings that the city public
works department would pick
up at any one residence to sev-
The monthly meeting of the
City Utilities Committee on
Monday, May 21 at City Hall
could be an interesting one.
A recommendation by the
committee at last week's City
Council meeting to amend the
tree and shrubbery trimmings
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
limbs or shrubbery larger than
529 New Hope Road
BEN LEDBETTER/THE HERALD
Serita Mull adjusts her diving mask before
instruction starts Friday at Neisler
Natorium. The squad has been taking class-
es from Skully’s Dive Shop in Gastonia.
en cubic yards per week; and al-
so stipulated that any tree and
shrubbery branches, limbs and
trimmings cut by a landscape or
tree service contractor or other
commercial workers or result-
ing from land being cleared by
a contractor would not be col-
lected by the city.
The proposed ordinance stat-
ed that no tree trunks, branches,
Gastonia
704-865-1233
106 S. Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
See Merger 3A
~ City considering
$28.5 million budget -
for next fiscal year
{ By GARY STEWART
i Editor of The Herald
The City of Kings Mountain
i has scheduled a public hearing
: for Monday, May 14 at 6 p.m. at
i City Hall to consider a 2001-02
: fiscal year budget of
: $28,526,565.
Citizens will be allowed to
i speak in favor or in opposition
i of the proposed budget during
i the public hearing. City Council
i may adopt the budget follow-
i ing the hearing.
The budget includes a 2%
: pay raise for the 182 full-time
: city employees as well as the
first pay raise for Mayor and
Council members in over 15
years. The mayor's salary will
increase from $500 to $700 per
month, and Council salaries
will increase from $300 Ly $500
per month.
The budget maintains te
current 36-cents tax rate. The
only increase in services is a 5%
water/sewer hike which is be-
ing passed on to customers be-
cause the City of Gastonia in-
creased the rates for treating
wastewater at the Crowders
Creek Plant.
Mayor Rick Murphrey said
the city’s general fund balance
should continue to be strong.
The fund balance for the 1999-
2000 fiscal year was $2,948,328
and it is projected to be about
the same at the end of the cur-
rent fiscal year.
The overall budget is up $2.5
million from last year, but $1.2
million of that is necessary to
cover increases in natural gas
prices.
A new fire station for the
west side of town will cost
$500,000, and $1 million is be-
ing carried over for completion
of the new senior center.
Murphrey pointed out nu-
merous accomplishments dur-
ing the current fiscal year, in-
cluding the second phase of a
new 36-inch water line from
Moss Lake to Public Works.
That phase, which cost
$930,000, serves the north side
of town.
Design plans for the third
phase, which will carry the line
from Cansler Street across
Highway 74 Bypass to Oak
four inches in diameter, longer
than five feet, or heavier than 75
pounds would be collected by
the city.
It further stated that the city
would not remove or assist in
the removal of tree stumps, and
that it would be unlawful for
anyone to place a tree stump on
city property.
It also stated that larger piles
of tree trimmings would be re-
Shelby
Grove Road, will take place
during this budget year but the
line will actually be built and
funded during the 2002-03 fiscal
year. The water line expansion
is a 10-year project with an esti-
mated cost of $1 million per
phase; however, since two lines
were installed during the cur-
rent fiscal year the project is
ahead of schedule.
The city is also finalizing
plans for development of a
greenway project on King and
Watterson Streets, and complet-
ed its downtown revitalization Ii
study. It also initiated down-
town revitalization and indus-
trial incentives grants pro-
grams. A
The city was also designated R
a Gateway Community to the HY
federal and state parks, paved
12 streets from Powell Bill
funds, was awarded over
$700,000 in Community i
Development Block Grants, al-
most a half-million dollars in
Highway Safety grants, was
named one of the top 100 cities
for location of new manufactur-
ing by Site Selection Magazine,
and completed $150,000 in re-
pairs to the Moss Lake spillway.
“We accomplished all of this
while also maintaining a solid
general fund balance and ad-
dressing all the infrastructure
needs,” Murphrey said. “Plus,
we received a perfect audit on
last year’s budget.”
Looking to the upcoming fis-
cal year, the mayor anticipates
having the Central School dis-
trict designated as a historical
district, and the city will design
an expansion of the T.J. Ellis
Water Plant.
“As the usage continues to in-
crease and we have more
prospective clients coming to
town, we're looking to expand
the water treatment plant's ca- i
pacity,” he said. 8
The city also plans to contin-
ue improvements in the
Davidson Park area, including
building a new basketball court
and paving of the parking lot.
A new mini-park which will
include modern playground
equipment is scheduled for Jake
Early Field behind the YMCA.
See Budget 3A
—
again discuss tree limbs policy
moved for a fee, if approved by
the Public Works Director. The
fee would be $80 per hour for
two men.
Councilman Dean Spears has
said in the past that piles of
limbs left on the side of streets
is an eyesore and should be
picked up by the city, and then
the city should deal with the
See Meeting 3A
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
Member FDIC