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Page 10A
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Cleveland County Department
of Social Services said she ex-
pects an increase in applicants
from last year.
“With the layoffs and increase
in our other programs, we'll see
an increase in this also,”
Bridges said.
Cleveland County’s jobless
rate has led the state for consec-
utive months, and its expected
to climb when layoffs from
some companies start.
One option for fuel assistance
A ¢ With winter weather coming
QL
to Cleveland County, many area
residents will be searching for
&
“ways to pay for heat and other
essentials.
~ Although gas prices have fall-
en since last winter, many
Cleveland County residents
will not be able to take advan-
tage of it because of layoffs. -
Kandi Bridges, with the
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The Kings Mountain Herald
is through the Cleveland
County Department of Social
services which will take appli-
cations through November 16
for the federally funded pro-
gram.
The Low Income Energy
Assistance Program is a pro-
gram that provides a one-time
cash payment to help eligible!
families supplement their heat-
ing bills.
Checks will be mentlod} in
February, and last year’s aver-
age amount was $75.12. The
amounts of checks are un-
known until all applications are
taken.
The need for assistance can
also stem from broader eco-
nomic factors.
- Sen. John Edwards said ap-
- proximately one million North
Carolinians did not earn
enough to qualify for the tax re-
bate checks that were approved
by Congress earlier this year.
“We need to get money in the
hands of people who didn’t get
any benefit from the rebate be-
fore,” Sen. Edwards said.
According to the county DSS,
LIEAP payments will be target-
ed toward all Food Assistance
households active in the Food
uel assistance available
Stamp Information System as of
Sept. 30 and those households
will receive an automatic pay-
ment if they meet the LIEAP
guidelines.’
Other Food Assistance house-
holds not eligible for the auto-
matic payment will receive a
letter advising them to apply at
the DSS offices.
To be eligible, families must
meet an income test, be respon-
sible for the household’s heat-
ing bill, be a U.S. citizen, have
household assets not over
$2,220. DSS said the monthly in-
come limit for a family of four
is $1,618.
Although no numbers are
available for the amount of this
year’s applicants, Bridges said
the layoffs in Cleveland County
would contribute to increases in
people seeking assistance.
“When people are out of
work, they're going to go after
any assistance that’s available,”
Bridges said. =.
In Kings Mountain, Becky
Lineberger, with the Crisis
Ministry said she has seen a
higher amount of new people
come in, with most people seek-
ing help with food and power
bills.
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EF EE ITI TITTIES
CIE RT res TT EE TE LI CL LC ED LE NT LE RS CR I CLC EL CV ST TT Ye
November 8, 2004
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Shannon Roberts was showing her support for Mayor Rick
Murphrey outside precinct #3, the Christian Ministry Center of
First Baptist Church, Tuesday morning.
First National 18th
in bank rankings
By BEN LEDBETTER
Staff Writer
Shelby based First National
Bank was ranked 18th in the
Business North Carolina annual
poll'of banks and thrift institu-
tions, which ranked banks by
revenue in 2000.
First National, which has
branches in Cleveland and
Gaston Counties, had revenue
of $22.4 million in 2000 and had
a net income of $7.2 million for
the same year.
The Shelby bank also had one
of the best return on assets
among polled banks at 1.41 per-
cent, and an efficiency ratio of
52.3 percent.
Other area banks included in
the poll were Cherryville
Federal Savings and Loan;
which posted an wificiericy fatio
of 52.9 among its banking sub-
sidiaries, First Gaston Bank of
NC was ranked 51st in the poll
and gained six spots from the
2000 poll, Gaston Federal was
ranked 34th which was a drop
of four spots from last year, and
Lincolnton’s First Federal
Savings and Carolina Trust
Bank came in 53rd and 110th re-
spectively.
First Federal dropped four
- spots from last year and
Carolina Trust was not ranked
in the 2000 poll.
This year’s poll did not in-
clude the merger of Charlotte's
First Union and Winston-
Salem’s Wachovia.
The first five spots in the poll
remained unchanged this year,
as Charlotte’s Bank of America
and First Union came in first
and second respectively.
Wachovia, Winston-Salem
based BB&T, and Raleigh's First
Citizens Bank rounded out the
top five.
Charlotte’s First Charter
Bank, which has branches
across Cleveland County, was
ranked sixth, moving from the
seventh spot in 2000.
Bank of Granite, was the first
among small-town banks in the
poll in the seventh spot, moving
ahead one spot from last year’s
poll.
The Granite Falls based bark,
which has branches in the
Hickory area, had $44.7 million
in revenue during 2000 and net
income of $15.6 million.
Lecture Series
at Gardner-Webb
Tom English of the Cline
Observatory at Guilford
. Technical Community College
will give a lecture on eclipse ex-
~ peditions at 7. .p-m. Thursday,
Nov: 8 in the Blanton
Auditorium of Hamrick Hall at
Gardner-Webb University.
Following the lecture, there
will be a reception in Hamrick
Hall's Tucker Library.
English will present a topic
entitled “Shadow and Light:
Solar Eclipse Expeditions and
the Rise of American
Astrophysics. ” He will discuss
astronomers’ struggle to unrav-
el the mysteries of the sun.
English is a former professor
at GWU. i
For more information call Dr.
Joyce Brown at 406-4409.
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