The He
Thursday, September 6, 2001
ay
Vol. 113 No. 36
Since 1889
50 Cen
Mountaineers
open season with
victory
See Page 6A
“This is like a welcome center to Kings Mountain”
time in October.
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Pinnix Construction is put-
ting the finishing touches on
the new $2.75 million H.
Lawrence Patrick Senior Life
and Conference Center on East
King Street, and as soon as
paving, landscaping and traffic
signalization projects are com-
plete senior citizens on this end
- of the county will have a facili-
ty that is second to none.
Aging Director Monty
Thornburg and Mayor Rick
Murphrey estimate that senior
citizens will occupy the build-
ing sometime in October. A for-
mal dedication and open house
will be held for the 16,806-
square foot facility which sits
on a 7 1/2-acre tract owned by
the City.
The spacious building has
been in the planning stages for
almost two years. It started off.
as a 12,000-square foot, $1.3
million facility but Mayor
Murphrey said since the Center
is the first thing people will see
as they come into town off the
Interstate, city officials wanted
it to be a “showplace.”
That concept, of course,
increased the price but by
-Aging Director Monty Thornburg
adding features not in the origi-
nal design it also increased the
opportunities available to sen-
ior citizens and the community
at large.
“This is like a welcome cen-
ter to Kings Mountain,” says
Thornburg. “This is something
that can be used by the whole
community.”
“If you're going to do.same-
thing like this, you need to do
it right,” Murphrey added.
“You want to build it for the
future.
“When we started to design
the building, we wanted to do
something everybody can be
proud of,” the mayor added.
“We wanted to make a state-
ment that we're a community
of caring people.”
The new center, named for
deceased Kings Mountain busi-
nessman and community
leader H. Lawrence Patrick,
will allow senior citizens to uti-
lize the building all day if they
wish. Currently, because of lim-
ited space (4,000 square feet) at
the old Southern Railroad
Depot on N. Battleground Ave.,
programs have to be scheduled
into certain time slots.
“Senior Citizens can come
here early in the morning to
take advantage of new exercise
rooms and programs, eat lunch,
and then stay the rest of the
day for more activities, if they
want to,” Murphrey said.
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
_The new H. Lawrence Patrick Senior Life and Conference Center is nearing completion on East King Street at Canterbury Road. The
Kings Mountain Senior Center, which is now located in the old Southern Railroad Depot, will be moving into the new building some-
Second to None
New KM senior center nearing completion
The spacious new building is
impressive, to say the least.
While the outside architecture,
See Center Page 3A
ns,
Za,
GARY STEWART /HERALD -
KMBPA letter
may violate
election laws
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Whether or not a letter sent
out to members of the Kings
Mountain Business and
Professional Association by its
president and City Council can-
didate, Bernice Chappell, violat-
ed State elections rules had not
been determined at The
Herald’s deadline yesterday, but
it has drawn the ire of a couple
of Council candidates.
In the letter inserted into the
monthly newsletter packet to
the 74 KMBPA members,
Chappell mentioned that she
and Board member Gary Cooke
were candidates for City
Council, and promised that she
would do “the best job I can for
all the people of Kings
Mountain if I am elected.”
The letter did not mention
any of the other candidates. The
packet did include a separate
sheet that listed all of the candi-
dates in the November 6 elec-
tion, but the name of mayoral
candidate Jim Belt was listed as
John Belt, and the name of At-
Large candidate Jerry Mullinax
was listed as Jerry Hamrick.
Chappell is a candidate for
one of two At-Large seats, and
Cooke is running against
incumbent Clavon Kelly, Ken
+ Hamrick and Wayne Worcester:
in Ward 3.
Chappell is on vacation in
Montana but called The Herald
and said she made a mistake
and will be apologizing to the
other candidates in next
month’s newsletter.
“When I was getting ready to
leave town I was finishing up
the newsletter, and I realized
after I mailed it that I left them
out,” Chappell said.
Chappell said she writes a
monthly letter to the KMBPA
members, and the letter was
intended to announce her can-
didacy. She said she included
Cooke at the end because she
had “extra space.”
“I really feel terrible about it,”
she said. “I knew when I left
town it wasn’t going to look
good. I was just in a hurry to
get out of town.
“I'm new at politics,” she
added. “It was a complete over-
sight on my part and I'll correct
it. I have a lot of apologizing to
do.”
Rick Moore, who is in the At-
Large race with Chappell,
incumbent Gene White,
Mullinax, and Glenn Carroll, is
the owner of Timms Furniture
and is a member of the KMBPA.
He called the letter a “dirty tac-
tic.”
See Letter Page 12A
County asks KM
to donate building
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Jobs could be coming.
After a four-hour discussion
Friday at City Hall with county
leaders and John Barker Realty,
the city voted to sell its approxi-
mately $230,000 interest in the
building formerly occupied by
ABB Combustion.
Barker Realty was represent-
ing Clancy and They’s, who is
currently paying the bonds on
the ABB building.
figure was the difference
between two separate
appraisals.
One of the hurdles to finish-
ing a deal is that the building's
lease rate would be well above
the current market value for the
space.
In 1984, the building was
expanded to bring more jobs to
the area with the financing com-
ing through the Kings Mountain
Development Corporation,
which allowed tax-exempt
industrial revenue bonds with a
Mayor Rick Murphrey and Aging Director Monty Thornburg in
front of new senior center on King Street.
BEN LEDBETTER/THE HERALD
Randy Conner prepares a board for further use during the Project
Playground first build day.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Celebrating 127 Years
Kings Mountain
300 W. Mountain St.
City of Kings Mountain
Mayor Rick Murphrey said the
See Building Page 9A
Playground construction underway
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Regardless of Tuesday's rain and mud,
the Project Playground Committee's first
build day went on as planned at its
Cleveland Ave. site.
The city has earmarked $250,000 for the
construction of a playground at the site of
Jake Early Field, which is on YMCA proper-
ty.
The Project Playground committee has
also raised money for additional equipment
for the site.
The new playground, which is expected
to be completed by Sunday, will have a sep-
arate area for younger children and older
children.
A pirate ship with a moat, xylophones, a
model village, slides and other play equip-
ment are some of the things that are sched-
uled to be part of the playground.
Earlier this year, city officials toured
Kings Mountain elementary schools with a
representative from New York firm Leathers
& Associates to solicit ideas for a design.
Leathers & Associates supervises builds
of community-funded playgrounds.
“I really thought people’s spirits were
going to be dampened,” Committee
Volunteer Chairman Michelle Lynch said.
“But they have just been willing and ready
to work. I'm actually very shocked.”
Lynch said the rain from Monday night
and Tuesday Morning kept her up all night
thinking about the rain’s effect on the build.
“I'm going strictly on adrenaline,” Lynch
said. “I'm getting my second wind.”
Lynch was in charge of signing people in
and making sure they get to their respected
See Playground Page 12A
KM man murdered after concert
Kings Mountain Police and State Bureau of
Investigation are interviewing a host of resi-
dents this week hoping to learn something
about the early Sunday morning shooting
death of a mentally handicapped 19-year-
old.
Justin Wade Braswell of 105 Herman
Court, was shot in the lower back while
walking from a late Saturday night concert
at City Hall to his grandmother’s house on
North Carpenter Street.
Braswell, a student at North Shelby
School which serves Cleveland County stu-
dents with special needs, was alive when
704-739-4782
Gastonia
529 New Hope Road
704-865-1233
police arrived on the scene but was pro-
nounced dead on arrival at Cleveland
Regional Medical Center.
According to Detective Maurice Jamerson
of Kings Mountain Police Department,
Braswell was walking on Ridge Street near
the intersection with North Carpenter Street
when he was shot.
Jamerson said KMPD received a call from
neighbors in reference to a possible drunk
man lying in the roadway. When police
arrived, they found that Braswell was not
drunk but had been shot. EMS arrived
moments later.
Shelby
106 S. Lafayette St.
704-484-6200
“He was alive at the time,” Jamerson said,
“and he mentioned to one of the officers
something to the effect that the ‘brown peo-
ple’ did it.” Jamerson said he found out
later from talking to Braswell’s family that
he referred to Black people as “brown peo-
le.”
Pp Jamerson said police have also learned
that Braswell recently was involved in an
altercation with “a couple of Mexicans” in
the area, and police are checking that out
also.
See Murder Page 12A
Bessemer City
1225 Gastonia Hwy.
704-629-3906
Member FDIC |
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