Thursday, August 9, 2001
Vol. 113 No. 32
Since 1889
MOUNTAIN
High Schools
against heat
take precautions
1B
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
SHELBY - Mary Accor did not
vote for her supporters or oppo-
nents in Tuesday's Cleveland
County Board of
Commissioner's meeting.
The commissioner and ele-
mentary school principal said
she took the opinion of her con-
Barnette,
Smith file
for board
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
The field is
set for the
Kings
Mountain
School Board
election.
Gaston
County resi-
dents Trace
Barnette and
Mike Smith
filed for the
At-Large seat
this week,
resulting in a
race for all of
the three
seats avail-
able in the
November
election.
Outside
city residents
Jerry Blanton,
Terry McClain and Kathy Falls
had filed earlier and will battle
Barnette
a
Smith
- for the two outside city seats.
The inside city seats of Board
Chair Shearra Miller and-Vice-
Chair Stella Putnam are not up
for election this year.
The filing of Smith and
Barnette will ensure that the
Gaston County section of the
City of Kings Mountain that is
the focus of the School Board's
merger lawsuit has an elected
representative on the Board.
Barnette was recently appoint-
ed to fill the unexpired term of
Melony Bolin, who resigned
due to health reasons.
Barnette, who was sworn in
last month and will sit in on his
first meeting next Monday
night, said he is running “to
continue to see that our stu-
dents can get an excellent
See School Page 3A
‘no longer in merger fight
finance the Kings Mountain
District Schools merger fight.
“I think I was speaking for all
the county,” Accor said. “If it
was money coming out of my
pocket I would continue to fund
it?
Accor said the issue was
whether to continue to use
opinion.
“The question here tonight is
whether we should continue
funding on the county level,”
Accor said.
county dollars, not to change
the current board's anti-merger
The Commissioners’ 3-2 vote
against spending further county
money on the merger issue now
leaves Kings Mountain alone
merger plan.
meeting.
financially in its legal fight with
the Cleveland County school
Cleveland County Schools
voted to stop funding any fur-
ther legal costs related to the
proposed merger at its last
Accor, Charlie Harry and
Chairperson Willie McIntosh
voted to stop the county's
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
A new home City
Manager Jimmy Maney
is constructing in the
Gold Run subdivision
was vandalized some-
time between Saturday
and Tuesday.
An estimated $1,000
damage was done by a
person or persons who
entered the back door of
the house, ripped some
sheetrock from an
upstairs family room and
used a broom to punch
holes in the sheetrock in
the kitchen and breakfast
nook. The broom was
still sticking in the wall
within two feet of the
back door, where it is
believed the vandal(s)
left the structure.
Maney was in Shelby
on city business Tuesday
morning when he
received a call from one
of his contractors, who
discovered the damage.
“The last time I had
been out there was
Saturday,” Maney noted,
“and everything was
fine. I did not go back
out until the contractor
called me. There had
been someone out there
working on the outside,
but nobody had been on
City Manager Jimmy Maney looks at a broom still stuck in the wall where
someone vandalized his new home.
City Manager's new
home is vandalized
the inside.”
The Cleveland County
Sheriff’s Department is
investigating the inci-
dent.
Judging by the size of
footprints left on one
wall and in the sandy
area where a back porch
is planned, it is believed
the perpetrator was an
adult. The print
appeared to be a “size 12
or 13,” Maney said.
This is not the first
time Maney and other
city officials have been
the targets of such
crimes. Recently Maney,
See Maney Page 3A
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Four candidates have filed
for the two available seats on
the Grover Board of
Commissioners.
The seats open are cur-
rently occupied by Mayor
Pro-Tem Max Rollins and
John Higginbotham. ;
* Rollins is the only incum-
bent running for one of the
two seats. Higginbotham did
not file.
“I'd like to see Grover
improve and be a better
town,” Rollins said.
Rollins has served the
board for approximately five
years asa commissioner and
as mayor.
John Harry, who filled an
unexpired term of current
Mayor Bill Favell, said serv-
Four seek two seats
on Grover Council
ing on town council is way
Staff Writer
By BEN LEDBETTER
Grover buildin
spending on the merger.
City Council filing
The dissenting votes were
from Vice Chairperson Tom
Bridges and Ronnie Hawkins.
After the citizen's recognition
portion where approximately 13
people voiced their opinions on
merger, two people said they
supported further county
See Merger Page 3A
Mary Accor
ends Friday at noon |
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Another race developed this week
when Kings Mountain businessman
Rick Moore filed to oppose incumbent
Gene White and Jerry Mullinax for the
At-Large seat in the November city
council election.
In addition, two-
term Ward 3 coun-
cilman Clavon Kelly
filed for reelection.
To date, there are
races in all but two
of the Ward seats -
Kelly in Ward 3 and
Dean Spears in
Ward 4. Filing ends
at 12 noon Friday at
the Cleveland
County Board of
Elections in Shelby.
Fourteen men
have filed thus far.
PéeWee Flamrick
and Jim Belt are
challenging incum-
bent Rick Murphrey
in the mayoral race.
Lamar Fletcher is
challenging incum-
bent Howard Shipp
in Ward 1; Preston
Leonard is opposing
incumbent Jim
Guyton in Ward 2;
and Jeffrey Bostic
has filed against
incumbent Carl:
DeVane in Ward 5.
Moore, who owns
Timms Furniture
Company on South
Battleground
Avenue, is seeking
political office for the first time.
“Kings Mountain has been very
good to me and I think I ought to give
a little bit of my time back to the city
Bostic
Kelly
Moore
.and just see if I can make things a little
See Council Page 3A
to give to the town.
“I guess I'm trying to give
back to Grover what it’s
given me most of my life,”
Harry said.
Harry, an employee at
Grover Industries, is a life-
long resident of Cleveland
County.
Bill Willis, who has lived
in Grover for approximately
11 years, will be making his
initial run for office in North
Carolina. Willis was a town
commissioner when he lived
in Michigan.
“1 like the town,” Willis
said. “I like to do what I can
to keep it a good place to
live.” .
Willis said he was satisfied
with how the town is run
See Grover Page 3A
GROVER - Because of the
pressure being lowered at a
meter, the town was out of
water Saturday afternoon.
Town officials were in the
office Saturday to answer resi
dent’s questions about the out-
age. ;
“The calls were two to. three
minutes apart,” Town Clerk
Barbara Barrett said.
“Sometimes both lines were
ringing at one time.”
The outage lasted approxi-
mately 90 minutes
At the town’s monthly meet-
ing Monday, the town council
discussed duties of town coun-
cil and the mayor. The issue
was tabled to a future meeting.
In closed session the council
discussed the possibility of
See Buildings Page 3A
Hayes declines to
run for reelection
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
After 40 years of continuous service
to the City of Kings Mountain,
Councilman Bob Hayes is stepping
aside.
Hayes, who served the Kings
Mountain Police Department for, 36
years before being elected to two con-
secutive terms on
City Council, said he
will not seek to retain
his At-Large seat in
the November elec-
tion because his pri-
orities over the next
several years must be
to his family.
Hayes’ wife, Sue, a
retired employee of
Winn-Dixie, recently
found out that she
has bladder cancer. Her cancer is in__.
remission, but Hayes said at this time it =~ 7
is more important for him to be with
her than to serve on City Council.
“I'm 63 years old and have had forty
continuous years with the City,” he
said. “I think it’s about time to go. I just
want to look after my wife and try to
do a little traveling.”
Hayes said as a councilman he did
“everything in my power to vote on
issues according to my convictions, and
. with the utmost regard for the trust that
the good citizens of Kings Mountain
placed with me.”
Hayes said he felt like City Council
over the past four years did a good job
= Hayes : IN
“putting the taxpayers’ money to good
use.” - . |
“I could have received no greater
honor than the confidence shown me
by electing me to two terms on City»
Council,” he said. “I always tried to do
the right thing, but sometimes it is
See Hayes Page 3A gy Ley
BEN LEDBETTER/THE HERALD
A majority of the buildings in the town of Grover will be for sale at auction
Saturday on Main St.
- Gastonia
529 New Hope Road
704-865-1233
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
704-739-4782
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 127 Years
Shelby
106 S. Lafayette St.
' 704-484-6200
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy. :
704-629-3906
Member FDIC