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on Thursday, January 10, 2002 KINGS MOUNTAIN The Her Vol. 114 No. 2 Mountaineers defeat Crest 02 in SW Foothills ny Lo] 496 00 or basketball MAUNEY MEMORIAL LIBRARY ; PIEDMONT AVE KINGS MOUNTAIN NC 28086-3414 6A Since 1889 50 Cents ~1.1 ‘A gap that’s not closing KM Schools number of minority employees don’t match percentage of minority students By BEN LEDBETTER Staff Writer While the school system has * been making strides in closing the achievement gap between minority and caucasian stu- dents, a gap remains between employees of the district. According to school system figures, a large gap exists between minority and cau- casians in administrative posi- tions. Out of the 758 employees of the school system, only 107 are minorities. But Ronnie Wilson, Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Grover chief ® ® retiring By BEN LEDBETTER Staff Writer With the coming departure of town Police Chief Ed Pheagin, the Grover Town Council dis- cussed possibilities of future law enforcement protection with the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department Monday during the town’s monthly meeting. Pheagin will resign because of health problems effective January 31. He was at the meet- ing to discuss personnel mat- ters in closed session with the town. Pheagin, a former Cleveland County Sheriff's Deputy, has been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, and diabetes. The town council passed a motion for Councilman Jack Herndon and Mayor Bill Favell to talk with Sheriff Dan Crawford about law enforce- ment options for Grover. According to Sheriff Crawford, the county providing law enforcement protection in lieu of a police chief for smaller ltowns is not unusual. Crawford said he has had similar discussions with Lawndale and Kingstown. “This is not an unusual situa- tion,” Crawford said. “We want to help and do what we can.” The options the town will discuss are whether to have a deputy work on a contract basis or as an employee of the town. If the town chose to go with a contract agreement, Crawford said his office would assume liability and his deputies could use their patrol car. Also the deputy working as town police chief would report to Crawford, under a contract agreement. But although the town will be losing its police chief, it is not completely without law enforcement protection. Currently the sheriff's deputies patrols different areas of the county that are divided into zones. Councilman Jack Herndon mentioned the idea of having a way to pool law enforcement for Grover, Patterson Springs, and Earl since the three towns See Chief, 5A FIRST NATIONAL BANK with Kings Mountain District Schools, said the shortage of minority employees is part of a national trend. “We certainly need more minority teachers and would love to be able to hire additional minority teachers,” Wilson said. Nationally, minority teachers comprise 13 percent of the teaching workforce, Wilson said from a statistic in The Southern * Education Foundation Report Wilson said. Three of the school system’s 49 coaches are minori- ties. Those numbers include coaches at Kings Mountain Middle and High Schools. All of the employee figures are far below the minority stu- dent enrollment of approximate- ly 27 percent. Of the 4,539 stu- dents enrolled at Kings Mountain District Schools, 1,253 are minorities. Few minorities hold top Kings Mountain District Schools Minority Percentages £ # of employees HM # of minority employees (includes maintenance & Headstart) | _ # of employees in district office LL # of minority employees in dist. office fi#tof principals Hl # of minority principals £0 # of assistant principals # of minority assistant principals 600 700 on Minority Recruitment. He said the figure is expected to drop by five percent by 2005. The number of coaches in the school system, although low, mirrors other district figures, ties. administrative or district office positions. Of the districts 58 central office employees, six are minori- See Minority, 5A £24 of coaches (middle & high schools) # of minority coaches £8 #4 of students # of minority students 60 70 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 By BEN LEDBETTER Staff Writer While Kings Mountain and much of the Charlotte area experienced snowfall last Wednesday, the area dodged winter precipitation that was slated for Sunday. And to help keep many Kings Mountain streets clear of ice and snow, the city used its five snow plows and two sand and salt spreaders to clear any winter precipitation from the roads. City Director of Public Works Jackie Barnette said last week’s winter weather was free of major problems. Other than calling in employees on Wednesday night, Barnette said every- SNOW DAY “Vit. continues to make progress. di BEN LEDBETTER / THE HERALD Curtis Chenoweth plays in the snow outside his home on Thursday morning. No major problems with Thursday snow thing went well. “We didn’t have any major problems,” Barnette said “We can deal with snow, we just can’t deal with ice that well.” But preventive measures were taken before the snow, Kings Mountain Mayor Rick Murphrey said. He said a salt and sand base was applied before the snow arrived. Winter weather also caused the three county school systems to not open school for the remainder of the week. Kings Mountain took the two days as optional teacher workdays. A school system official said the days See Snow, 5A Kings Mountain 300 W. Mountain St. Gastonia 529 New Hope Road County faces some of same issues in ‘02 By BEN LEDBETTER Staff Writer Several issues will be before the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners in 2002. Although current Cleveland County Commissioners inher- ited issues from the former board, one commissioner said “The new board inherited zoning, the merger issue, then a budget when the state under- estimated medicaid,” Ronnie Hawkins said. “Instead of a new board coming on and being able to do good things, we were having to deal with issues before the previous board.” During the last election, three Kings Mountain residents were voted onto the board, but the three newest commission- ers are individuals and have voted dif- ferently, Hawkins said. Some of the improvements Hawkins said he has seen since the new board has taken office is more cooperation between Cleveland County and munici- pal governments for job recruit- ment and more accessibility of commissioners. Reflecting on his first year as a commissioner, Hawkins said the ‘time has been a leamming process. Hawkins is not a stranger to poli- tics though, he has previously served on the Kings Mountain District Schools Board of Education. “I think this year has been a MCINTOSH learning process, and it’s been some- thing I’ve been able to grow with,” Hawkins said. “In a sense, it feels like it’s been short, but it’s been a long year.” With the current recession, Hawkins ’ See County, 5A Peak shaving plant will save city money By BEN LEDBETTER Staff Writer With its second new peak generating facility, Kings Mountain will be able to save more money on electricity. The new facility, located off York Road will reduce part of what the city pays to Duke Power, its wholesale energy provider. On Monday the city officially opened the plant, which went into operation November 1, with a brief ceremony and tour. A group of local officials and citi- zens were in attendance. Kings Mountain Electrical Director Nick Hendricks said using the new plant will reduce the city’s cost by an estimated $250,000 a year. The plant will generate 1,825 kilowatts. A kilowatt is a unit of electricity that is equal to 1,000 watts. S See Plant, 5A BEN LEDBETTER / THE HERALD Rick Moore, Rick Murphrey, Dean Spears and Jim Guyton cut ribbon to officially open city’s second peak shaving plant. Shelby 106 S. Lafayette St. Bessemer City 1225 Gastonia Hwy. 704-739-4782 704-865-1233 704-484-6200 704-629-3906 Celebrating 128 Years Member FDIC
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Jan. 10, 2002, edition 1
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